THE TELEGRAPH: Hit by a global crackdown on their wealthy financiers, Bin Laden's followers have been forced to abandon their Koranic principles to pursue their holy war.
The three al-Qaeda agents assured the Colombians that they would have no problem moving their shipment of European-bound cocaine through the Islamist badlands of the Sahara.
As supporters of the terrorist organisation's North African branch, they would guarantee shipment of the drugs through territory they controlled - so long as they were paid fee of $2,000 per kilo.
The trio, all from the impoverished desert nation of Mali, thought they were setting up a deal with representatives of Colombia's Marxist FARC guerrillas to smuggle up to 1,000 kgs of cocaine.
In fact, they were speaking to informants for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who secretly taped the meeting in Ghana in a sting operation in December. The three men, who were recorded on tape saying that they were levying "taxes" on the terror group's behalf, were arrested and extradited to New York, where they are now fighting drug and terror charges.
Anti-terrorism officials believe the case may prove a crucial landmark in the battle against al-Qaeda: it is the first time that anyone linked to the terror group has faced prosecution for its newest money-spinning activity, narco-terrorism. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, March 06, 2010
