FBI: No global crime link to core al-Qaida

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- U.S. agencies have seen no evidence that al-Qaida's central command has linked up with or used the services of organized crime, but other terror groups have.

"We, law enforcement (and) intelligence communities, have identified other terrorist organizations that have benefited from organized crime," said John Pistole, the FBI's deputy director. "We have not seen, to date, a direct link between what we would describe as international organized crime, traditional organized crime, and core al-Qaida."

Pistole spoke at a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington last week, after Attorney General Michael Mukasey rolled out a new strategy for dealing with the threat from a new generation of global crime organizations -- wealthy, politically connected and technologically savvy.

Pistole said there was evidence of links between such groups and other terrorist organizations "whether it's (left-wing Colombian insurgent group) FARC or Hezbollah or other groups, but not core al-Qaida, thus far."

Retired veteran Foreign Service officer William Pope, who asked Pistole about al-Qaida's links with organized crime, said he was pleased with the "very candid" response.

"It's important to keep things in perspective," he told UPI. "Just because al-Qaida is evil … doesn't mean they're involved in everything."

"There are other threats out there … it's good that people are paying attention to them," concluded Pope, who was No. 2 in the State Department's counter-terrorism office until his retirement in 2005.

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor