Looks like our attacks on their finances are working if they are resorting to this to finance themselves.

U.S. Seizes Boat Carrying Drugs, al-Qaida Suspects Destroyer Intercepts Vessel Carrying Two Tons of Hashish WASHINGTON (Dec. 19) - A U.S. warship seized two tons of hashish from a small dhow near the mouth of the Gulf this week in what was believed to be an al-Qaida smuggling operation, the U.S. Navy said on Friday. ''An initial investigation uncovered clear ties between the smuggling operation and al-Qaida ,'' the Navy said in a statement. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network is blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. The guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur stopped the 40-foot boat near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. ''No shots were fired during the interception mission,'' Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander James Graybeal told Reuters in Dubai. Graybeal declined to say where exactly the ship was intercepted or where it came from or its destination. ''The same route has been used before by al-Qaida,'' he said. Iran and the Gulf are major transit routes for drugs from Afghanistan, a leading producer of hashish and opium, to markets in Europe and the oil-rich Gulf Arab states. The statement said: ''The dhow's 12 crew members were taken into custody and transferred to USS Decatur and Decatur sailors are in control of the dhow.'' ''The smuggling routes are known to be used by al-Qaida and four of the 12 crew members are believed to have links to the organization.'' The Navy said a boarding team from the Decatur seized 54 70-pound bags of hashish with a street value of $8 million to $10 million. The warship was conducting expanded Maritime Interception Operations in and near the Gulf designed to deny use of the seas by ''terrorists and smugglers,'' the Navy said. Once aboard the dhow, Decatur's boarding team found that the boat's crew lacked proper documentation of its nationality or cargo. The statement said the fate of the dhow and its crew would be determined after consultation with legal authorities. Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network enjoys support among some Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia and neighboring Yemen, his ancestral home. 12-19-03 Reut13:11 Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Fixed board code -DF

Hehehehe, obviously some here don't recall the big black slabs of Afghani hash coming out during the Russian occupation there.
Written in gold leaf on them were the words, "Free Afghanistan", lol.

The Afghanis have always been a world class producer of hash and opium, the only thing that kept them from doing it was the Taliban.
Now that we have removed that little obstacle, why, it's business as usual, boys.

Ummm- newsflash:

They've been doing this for 15+ years at least.
You're naive if you don't think that our .gov isn't aware of the(ir) global drug trade. The opium harvest in Afghanistan was something like 3,000 TONS last year... wtf is up with that. Alot of the shit comes from our friend Pakistan too.....we won't even mention S.E. Asia and the CIA/ cocaine connection......

You really believe that the .gov is being outwitted by mexican smugglers???
Or could we stop it if we really wanted to???
Why does the .gov [b]refuse[/b] to secure our southern border???  fuck bush boy.

( I would also mention that Israel controls the ecstasy that is flooded into the U.S.- but Eric would just have a little hissy fit and call me a nazi- so just google- 'ecstasy smuggling')

More innocent victims of the war on drugs

Hannah's right folks.  The opium business in Afghanistan is booming since the Taliban have left town.

BUT - given the two options between Afghanistan's exports, terrorists or hash, I'll take hash.

Shoot, hash might be a good way of thinning out the herd.

Heh heh.  May I take your overtly sarcastic response to indicate that you number amongst the Prohibitionists on the board?  If I am right, and if I am not, my apologies, I find it a wee bit odd, given your well-known love of distilled beverages.  And hey, God knows I love 'em too, but still, odd to be a Prohibitionist with that bent, eh?  

I'm not a prohibitionist, as I don't advocate laws forbidding the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic liquors.  

Ahh.  Well rationalized, and clear as mud.