Ayman Saied Joumaa | |
---|---|
Nationality | Colombian/Lebanese |
Organization | Hezbollah |
Criminal charge | Drug trafficking, money laundering |
Ayman Saied Joumaa is a Colombian/Lebanese national and alleged drug kingpin. The US Treasury Department alleges that his organization launders money and traffics illicit drugs in the Americas, Middle East, Europe, and Africa, and that he has ties to Hezbollah and the Los Zetas cartel. [1]
On January 26, 2011, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listed him as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. This was due to Joumaa’s money-laundering operations supporting Hezbollah’s activities, as investigated during Project Cassandra. [2] [3]
On November 23, 2011, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicted Joumaa for distributing tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Central America to Los Zetas in Mexico and for laundering millions of dollars' worth of drug money from Mexico, Europe, and West Africa to Colombia and Venezuela. [4]
Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of such violence. As with most definitions of terrorism, it typically only refers to non-state actors.
Eduardo Arellano Félix is a Mexican drug trafficker, brother of Benjamín, Ramón, Javier and sister, Enedina, all drug traffickers. The Arellano-Félix Organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, has been responsible for numerous murders and the smuggling of thousands of tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine for more than a decade. The DEA believes that the Arellano-Félix brothers were responsible for the numerous smuggling tunnels that were found in January 2006.
The funding of Hezbollah comes from Lebanese business groups, private persons, businessmen, the Lebanese diaspora involved in African diamond exploration, other Islamic groups and countries, and the taxes paid by the Shia Lebanese. Hezbollah says that the main source of its income comes from its own investment portfolios and donations by Muslims.
Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía is a drug trafficker who, until his capture, was one of the leaders of the North Valley Cartel, who was wanted on drug smuggling, murder and RICO charges in the United States of America. In addition to the trafficking of cocaine, it is believed Ramírez also participated in money laundering and trafficking of heroin. Through Ramírez’ illegal enterprise, he has amassed a fortune estimated at $1.8 billion by the US Department of State. He has been cited as "... one of the most powerful and most elusive drug traffickers in Colombia" by Adam J. Szubin, Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Carlos Alberto "Beto" Rentería Mantilla was a former Colombian narcotrafficker and crime boss, presumed leader of the Norte del Valle Cartel. Rentería was believed by the United States government to be holding a leadership position within the drug cartel, he had been labeled "one of Colombia's most powerful and sophisticated narcotics traffickers" by Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, United States Department of the Treasury. The Attorney General of Colombia and the Colombian National Police accuse Rentería of drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Colima Cartel was a Mexican drug trafficking and methamphetamine producing cartel operating in Guadalajara, Jalisco. It was founded and led by José de Jesús Amezcua Contreras and supported by his brothers Adán and Luis.
José de Jesús Amezcua Contreras (born c. 1975, along with his brothers Adán and Luis, was a leader of the Colima Cartel, a Mexican methamphetamine and meth-precursor smuggling organization.
Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah is a Venezuelan politician, who served as the vice president of Venezuela from 2017 to 2018. He served as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018, and as Minister of Petroleum from 27 April 2020 until 20 March 2023. He previously was Minister of the Interior and Justice from 2008 to 2012, Governor of Aragua from 2012 to 2017, and the vice president of Venezuela from 2017 to 2018. While holding that office, El Aissami faced allegations of participating in corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking associated also to Hezbollah. In 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added El Aissami to the ICE Most Wanted List, listed by the Homeland Security Investigations unit. El Aissami, who was among the power brokers in Nicolás Maduro's government, resigned on 20 March 2023 during a corruption probe. He was arrested by the Venezuelan prosecutor's office on charges of treason, money laundering and criminal association.
Marcos Arturo Beltrán Leyva was a Mexican drug lord who, alongside his brothers, founded and led the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. Prior to founding his own organization, Beltran-Leyva was a longtime high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. His organization was responsible for cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine production, transportation and wholesaling. It controlled numerous drug trafficking corridors into the United States and was responsible for money laundering, gun-running, and other acts of violence against men, women, and children in Mexico. The organization was connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law enforcement officials.
Enedina Arellano Félix de Toledo is a Mexican drug lady who, alongside her brothers, founded the Tijuana Cartel and played a role as a logistical accountant for the criminal organization.
Benjamín Arellano Félix is a Mexican former drug lord who alongside his brothers founded and led the Tijuana Cartel or "Arellano-Félix Organization” until his arrest in March 2002.
Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa is a Mexican illegal drug trafficker of the Los Zetas, when Los Zetas were the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
Iván Velázquez Caballero, also known by his alias El Talibán, is a Mexican convicted drug lord of the criminal group known as Los Zetas. The government of Mexico listed Velázquez Caballero in 2009 as one of its 37 most-wanted drug lords and was offering up to $30 million pesos, the equivalent of over $2.5 million USD, for information leading to his capture.
Juan Reyes Mejía-González, commonly referred to by his alias R1, is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking member in the Gulf Cartel who allegedly heads Los Rojos, a faction within the cartel.
Aurelio Cano Flores, commonly referred to by his aliases Yankee and/or Yeyo, is an imprisoned Mexican drug trafficker and former high-ranking leader of the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization. He is also a former member of the Federal Judicial Police in Tamaulipas.
The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark federal legislation in the United States intended to address international narcotics trafficking by imposing United States sanctions on foreign persons and entities involved in the drug trade.
Project Cassandra was an effort led by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to undercut Hezbollah funding from illicit drug sources in South America. Launched in 2008, the project was investigating the terrorist organization's funding. The DEA, Eurojust, and Europol found that Hezbollah was increasingly involved with drug trafficking and organized crime as a method of funding its activities. The investigation was tracking how hundreds of millions of dollars were being laundered from North America through Europe and West Africa to Lebanon and into Hezbollah's coffers.
"Members of Hezbollah established business relationships with South American drug cartels responsible for supplying large quantities of cocaine to the European and United States drug markets. An intricate network of money couriers collect and transport millions of euros in drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East. The currency is then paid in Colombia to drug traffickers using the Hawala disbursement system. A large portion of the drug proceeds is laundered through Lebanon [facilitated by the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank and other Lebanese nationals], where it is then used for the benefit of Hezbollah to purchase weapons."
Abel Briones Ruiz is a Mexican business owner and suspected drug trafficker for the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, between 2005 and 2014, Briones Ruiz and his network were responsible for cocaine trafficking from Mexico to the U.S., smuggling the cash proceeds back into Mexico, conducting money laundering from these earnings, and structuring financial activities to hide the illegal nature of his earnings. He did this through his family-run gasoline company, Combustibles Briones, S.A. de C.V. A fugitive from U.S. justice, Briones Ruiz faces up to life imprisonment and up to US$10 million in fines from his drug trafficking activities alone.
Gilberto Barragán Balderas is a Mexican suspected drug lord and high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. He joined the cartel in the late 1990s and was a trusted enforcer of kingpin Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez. Barragán Balderas was the regional boss of Miguel Alemán and helped coordinate international drug trafficking shipments from South and Central America to Mexico and the U.S. His role in the cartel also included providing them with information on the movement and location of Mexican security forces to ensure safe passage of their cocaine and marijuana shipments. In 2008, an indictment issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia detailing his criminal activities was unsealed in court.
Chekri Mahmoud Harb is a Lebanese criminal with Colombian citizenship known for his involvement in international drug trafficking and money laundering activities. He has been linked both to Hezbollah and the Medellin Cartel, facilitating financial operations that supported them.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)