South America Key to Illicit Trade-Related Hezbollah Actions, Experts Tell Lawmakers
Foreign authorities are trying to counter the efforts of several companies allegedly linked to Hezbollah, as reports indicate that 285 companies dodged $270 million in taxes and that agents could be colluding with customs officials and politicians in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina (PBA) to evade inspections of “problematic” shipments from the likes of Miami International Airport and Dubai, a sanctions expert told House lawmakers June 8. “Imported goods are re-exported through the PBA, a porous border of the southern end of a long lawless frontier infamous for drugs and weapons trafficking,” Emanuele Ottolenghi, senior fellow at the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said (here) during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee's Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing. Terrorists are believed to launder drug money through these import and re-export activities, he said.
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The shipments are imported to PBA through Air Emirates, from Dubai, via Dakar, Senegal, and directly from the Miami-based Centurion Air Cargo, Ottolenghi said, calling on the U.S. to beef up its export controls for shipments leaving the Florida city, and to be quicker and more painstaking in performing “due diligence” on shipments to Ciudad del Este. He also called on Washington to work with Emirati and Senegalese authorities to more thoroughly vet merchandise and recipients before planes take off from hot spots in those countries. “I believe firmly that Hezbollah feels that prolonged asymmetric on conflict in the western hemisphere and other places in the world is going to be playing out some days,” SGI Global managing partner Michael Braun said. “So they've got all the time in the world to engage in international drug trafficking and at the same time establish the route lines they need to establish to support that asymmetric conflict down the road.”