Morocco says Dismantled International Drug Trafficking Ring Linked to Terrorists | North Africa | English: "Moroccan government is calling for regional action in the face of growing collaboration between drug traffickers and terrorists in the Sahel.
Morocco's Interior Ministry confirmed Friday in Rabat that police had arrested 34 members of an international drug trafficking ring that had ties to the terrorist group, al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb.
Authorities said the traffickers, who also had links to South American drug cartels, were transporting cocaine and marijuana from South America to Europe, via North Africa.
Morocco Interior Minister Taieb Cherqaoui said with these arrests there is now, what he called, 'an apparent coordination and confirmed collaboration' between drug traffickers and al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb in the region.
Cherqaoui says the terrorists are searching for ways to finance their terrorist activities. To make money, he says terrorist groups are using their knowledge of desert routes, their weapons and their means of transportation to protect drug dealers moving through the Sahel region."
