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Hezbollah has
sent fighters to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the
country's almost five-year-old civil war. It is designated a
terrorist organization by the United States.
Those arrested include leaders of the network's European cell,
who were taken into custody last week, the DEA statement said.
Among them was Mohamad Noureddine, who the DEA accuses of being
a Lebanese money launderer for Hezbollah's financial arm.
The United States has labeled Noureddine a specially designated
global terrorist, it said.
The DEA did not give the total number of those arrested or say
where they were apprehended.
The investigation "once again highlights the dangerous global
nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism," the statement
said.
Seven countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Belgium,
were involved in the investigation that began in February 2015
and is ongoing.
The U.S. Treasury Department last week imposed sanctions against
Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine, another alleged Hezbollah
money launderer. Noureddine's Trade Point International also was
placed under sanctions.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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