Hezbollah And Counterfeiting

I came across some information which appears to link Hezbollah to counterfeiting, even including US $100 bills - example below. The info comes from an on line Intel page and one always has to question the veracity of some of the information available through such sites. There's information and dis-information ... and then just plain BS. But this looks somewhat legit, as if that can even be trusted.

There's also additional info through linked sites and an available doc file linked below as well.

Hezbollah as producer and distributor of forged notes

• During the second half of the 1990s, money counterfeiting in the Bekaa region continued to thrive. However, though the fake dollars were still of high quality, they did not match the standards of the “Super Dollar”. In this “industry”, Hezbollah plays a prominent role, while joining forces with criminal elements and taking advantage of its powerful position in the Bekaa and its relations with Iran and Syria.

• The Bekaa region is the heart of the counterfeiting “industry” in Lebanon. The Hezbollah-controlled town of Brital, south of Baalbek (which is home to a population of some 7,000 Shiites) is the main center of money counterfeiting. In the second half of the 1990s, Brital housed an estimated ten to fifteen printing presses. These presses were operated in homes and workshops, and specialized in various lines of production, in particular high-quality fake 100-dollar bills. In the past they also produced fake 20-dollar and 50-dollar bills as well as fake currency of other Western and Arab countries, of varying qualities. Reports from the last two years confirm that

the counterfeiting “industry” in Bekaa is still thriving, and that Hezbollah as well as criminal elements are involved in it.

• The Lebanese counterfeiting “industry” is in the hands of powerful criminal elements, mainly members of large Shiite clans who closely cooperate with Hezbollah. The leading clans in this respect are Mazloum, Saleh, Sadek, Tles (in Brital) and al-Masri (in the village Hawr Ta’ala, south of Brital). Hezbollah also maintains relations with southern Lebanese clans engaged in large-scale drug smuggling, such as Nahra (from Ibl al-Saqi) and Berro (from the village Kafr Kila).

• Hezbollah’s involvement in the money counterfeiting “industry” allows it to benefit from the proceeds of this industry, and also entails operational advantages for its overseas activities. The technical know-how required for counterfeiting was exploited, as a by-product, to develop a sophisticated apparatus of document forgery. This apparatus produces passports used by Hezbollah operatives, and exports its “products” all over the world, mainly to Russia, the Ukraine, Cyprus, Latin American countries, and Arab countries.

• As for the Israeli market: fake dollars, originating from Lebanon, have been found in the past in Israel. As of now, there are no indications of attempts to “export” large amounts of forged notes to Israel. During an Israeli military operation in the

Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Security forces were found in possession of forged Israeli notes, but these did not originate from Lebanon. Nonetheless, both Iran and Hezbollah have the technological capabilities enabling them to flood the Israeli market with high-quality counterfeit notes, if and when the decision is made to do so.

Specimens of counterfeit notes from the “production line” of the printing presses in the town Brital (as of 1998)

A fake 100-dollar bill produced by a printing press owned by the Mazloum clan: high-quality forgery featuring good print quality, a good watermark, printed fibers on the paper, and a security stripe with delicate “USA” print.

Counterfeiting money

The Iranian and Syrian roles

• Iran is an important center of the global counterfeiting industry. Several Iranian attempts to flood the world market with high-quality fake US dollar notes were uncovered during the 1990s. However, the volumes circulated were not such as could severely harm the American economy.

• Iran’s relative advantage in this respect is its access to advanced technologies, which enable it to produce fake 100-dollar bills of outstanding quality (the so-called “Super Dollars” or “Super Notes”). The manufacture of “Super Dollars” requires a combination of photogravure printmaking, sophisticated printing blocks, special ink and paper, proficiency in color separation, and the technical ability to reproduce security features (e.g., security stripes). These technologies and know-how are typical of national authorities, not of terror and crime organizations, let alone individuals. Iran owes these advanced capabilities to none other than the United States, who supplied them to the Shah’s regime; the Ayatollahs’ regimes employed them to forge American money.

• In order to ward off incriminating evidence and avoid an entanglement with the United States, Iran chose to use Hezbollah (and possibly other Lebanese elements as well) as personnel for the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit notes. To this effect, Iran shipped counterfeit notes to Lebanon and supplied it with advanced technologies. In the early 1990s, “Super Dollar” notes surfaced in Lebanon’s Bekaa. It seems that in the initial stage these notes were printed in Tehran, and Lebanon was used only as distribution center. However, at some point in the early 1990s, Iran provided Lebanon with intaglio machines, and the Baalbek region in Syrian-controlled Bekaa became a production and marketing center of “Super Dollar” notes.

On June 15, 1996, Elaine Sciolino and Douglas Jehl published an article in the New York Times about Syria’s support of terrorism titled “Syrian’s [sic] Game: Both Ends Against the Middle” [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E16F73C5D0C768DDDAF0894DE494D81].

The article refers among other things to the Syrian support of the drug and money counterfeiting “industries” in Lebanon. The following is an excerpt from the article, which appeared under the heading “A blind eye to drugs and counterfeiting”:
“Syria also tolerates the counterfeiting of $100 bills in the Bekaa.

The Bekaa and other parts of Lebanon have produced high-quality fake $100 bills for years. In recent years, the Lebanese and the Syrian authorities have uncovered offset presses and confiscated millions of dollars and other currencies. But American officials are much more worried about “super notes”, phony $100 bills made with rag cotton paper and printed on huge, sophisticated intaglio machines used by the United States. The first “Super Note” surfaced in Hong Kong in 1989, but they appeared shortly afterwards in the Bekaa, Treasury Department officials said.

President Clinton raised the issue of counterfeiting – particularly the “Super note” – with Assad at their meeting in Geneva in January 1994, asking for help in uncovering the network. Christopher has asked the same question several times since.”

For more info, see Allah's post - Sticky Notes and LGF, Michelle, ALF - Myrtus

Also, I have a saved doc here which includes all of the above and more. You may be able to find additional info here.

Comments

[rwilymz]

If they're counterfeiting US currency, couldn't, like, Janet Reno have the Treasury Department bust them up? Could we get all Waco on Bekaa?

[William]

The US Govt, when it talks about this subject,
always makes less of the problem than those who
do independent research and are selling the books they write. I have no way of knowing the extent of
counterfeiting today. But I do know that 1/3 of
the US greenbacks in 1861 were counterfeit. Yet
America grew and grew. Of course, then it had a
whole continent to populate. Now the US is on the
skids brought down by a C- preppie with a penchant for hurting animals and a trillion dollar war the US corporate media sold to the American sheeple.

I write essays (Blogs) about topics like this that
I find interesting. Perhaps, some of you will come
to my website - www.tigersoft.com