The New Marlboro "Adventure Teams": Paramilitary Forces, Terrorist and Insurgent Groups

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Post-9-11 crackdowns on funding streams for Islamic and other terrorist groups worldwide have led these networks to turn to criminal rackets, with cigarette smuggling [5] offering low risks and high returns. Cigarettes are easy to buy, easy to bootleg and offer lucrative returns. Among the groups controlling black market cigarettes -- a multi-billion-dollar trade -- are al-Qaeda [6] in the Islamic Maghreb, an Algeria-based terrorist organization widely believed to have been backed by Osama Bin Laden [7]; Hezbollah [8]; the Taliban [9]; the Real Irish Republican Army ("Real IRA") and the Kurdistan Workers Party. The most commonly-smuggled brand is Marlboro, followed closely by Gauloises and American Legend. "Drug dogs don't alert on if your car is full of Camels," explained former FBI [10] counterterrorism agent David Cid. "The other advantage is you don't go to jail for 50 years" for smuggling cigarettes, since they are a legal product. In Colombia [11], established drug-smuggling routes are used for cigarette smuggling. U.S.-made cigarettes, particularly Marlboros, Kents and Lucky Strikes, make up a large portion of the goods smuggled into Colombia, with drug cartels, left-wing guerrilla groups and brutal right-wing paramilitary groups all jostling for market share. The profits from tobacco smuggling can rival those from narcotics: a shipping container of 10 million cigarettes made in China costs as little as $100,000, but can bring as much as $2 million in the U.S. A little money can go a long way with terrorist groups, too -- Al Qaeda's entire 9/11 operation was estimated to have cost between $400,000 and $500,000, according to the final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States [12].