cannabisnews.com: Al-Qaeda May Have Infiltrated Diamond Sector





Al-Qaeda May Have Infiltrated Diamond Sector
Posted by CN Staff on August 24, 2002 at 08:24:09 PT
By Rheal Seguin and Colin Freeze
Source: Globe and Mail 
Canadian police-intelligence services are concerned that the al-Qaeda terrorist network may be infiltrating Canada's diamond industry and using it to fund terrorist activities.But RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli refused to say whether organized crime has been successful in targeting the industry. "We have indications that criminal organizations will try and target our diamond industry," he said.
Police-intelligence services in Canada have recently increased the monitoring of potential diamond-smuggling activities by terrorists and other criminal organizations."I can't go into details, but obviously they see the potential for profit. That's what they look at. That's the basis of all criminal activity," Commissioner Zaccardelli said yesterday. "They see a lot of diamonds. If they can get their hands on them, they clearly can make a lot of money. And so they will be as innovative as your imagination can be in terms of trying to get access to it. We have to defend against that."Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said that in assessing global trends, the Canadian diamond industry is emerging as an attractive and lucrative target for criminal organizations. He said that it is a serious threat and could spread to many Canadian communities, where illegal diamonds can be easily sold to fund criminal activities."You don't need to get into my pocket to physically get me to believe that I am [affected] by organized crime. It's a fact, it's a reality, and people have to start listening to what the law-enforcement community is putting forward as real issues and emerging threats," Chief Fantino said.In a report released yesterday by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, a police agency created to fight organized crime, law enforcers warn that "terrorist organizations such as the al-Qaeda network may be using diamonds as a form of currency to avoid [the] international banking system and controls by government authorities."In a second report released yesterday, CISC also warns that biker gangs and Asian crime networks work around the clock to satisfy North America's insatiable demand for marijuana.At one time, pot-growing enterprises created friction between such criminal gangs. But their members realize that made-in-Canada pot has a cachet that makes it a multibillion-dollar business, with more than enough profits to go around, police say."The Hells Angels and Asian-based organized crime groups, particularly Vietnamese-based groups, prevail as major participants in the large-scale cultivation and exportation of marijuana," the report says.It adds that in British Columbia in particular, "both criminal organizations have realized that demand for marijuana nationally and internationally exceeds the supply of any one gang. "These groups currently tolerate each other's marijuana operations." Commissioner Zaccardelli said criminal gangs of different stripes are increasingly in cahoots with one another."The days of these factions operating as independent, isolated units that would take violent steps to protect their turf are over. We must integrate our policing efforts."The CISC report may give pause to anyone who thinks smoking a joint is a victimless offence. These same groups are involved in a number of illicit activities, from extortion to prostitution, violent crime, financial fraud and other crimes. Note: Terrorist groups can use gems as currency to avoid banks, other controls, police say.With a report from Canadian Press.  Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Rheal Seguin and Colin Freeze Published: Saturday, August 24, 2002 – Print Edition, Page A7Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.ca/Related Articles:Canadian Drugs Fund Terrorism, Official Says http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13730.shtmlA New Low in the War on Drugshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11943.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by Naaps on August 26, 2002 at 12:50:31 PT
Cop's Dog and Pony Show
I saw the media demonstration. The stuffed shirts of the police industry pontificating that Canadians need to be increasingly concerned about lurking threats anywhere one can imagine. And who better to protect Canadians, than the people using scare mongering, to advance their power agendas?RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli refused to say whether organized crime has been successful in targeting the industry. "We have indications that criminal organizations will try and target our diamond industry," he said.The Canadian Diamond mines are located above the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories. The land is barren; no trees, just lichen and rock, dotted with lakes and ponds, filled with swarms of mosquitoes. No one is going to come overland to steal the diamonds. The mines themselves have a private airstrips, arrivals and departures are strictly controlled.Inside and outside the mine, security is an overriding concern. Cameras watch everywhere, listening devices pick-up every utterance. Where you can go and what you do is tightly controlled. For instance, no drugs and alcohol are allowed. When you arrive, security briefs you, and you must sign a form to give consent for you and your items to be searched as security pleases. Failing to sign the form means you fly out on the next plane without even stepping into the mine.In the mine, the ore shafts are segregated. If you travel there, coming back you must reach through a gate into a container with some marbles. A yellow marble means you pass through back into the lodging accommodations without many hassles. A red marble means you get patted down. A black marble means a full strip search. You never know which marble you will pull. Meanwhile, the listening devices hear over all the ambient noise. Casually suggest to an acquaintance that you want to do something shady, and shortly thereafter you will be called aside, and potentially shipped out. Mere discussion will have you going home.The real threat to stealing the diamonds is commandeering the flight with the diamonds to Edmonton. But the security experts have considered this carefully. Lastly, the Canadian Diamonds have a special marking which makes identifying them easier. Some diamonds that were stolen, were recovered due to this marking.So, the threat Al-Qaeda poses to Canadian Diamonds isn’t clear to me. Meanwhile, the stuffed shirts talked at length of various gangs. If they were serious about making society safer, then cracking down on small personal cannabis cultivation must end. As long as they force people to buy from groups or individuals unconcerned by the legal hazards, then these people are being empowered for whatever anti-social activities they care to pursue. Smoking a joint is a victimless crime.    
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Comment #14 posted by overtoke on August 25, 2002 at 17:16:41 PT:
Diamonds
The Diamond trade has always bred terror.The entire supply is controlled by a single company "DeBeers" in order to control prices. There are so many diamonds already in storage and available that they are virtually worthless.Diamonds are worthless except in industrial application. Remember that. They are not the most rare gem. In addition you should completely be against the diamond trade as it breeds war. Read more:
Conflict Diamonds
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Comment #13 posted by goneposthole on August 25, 2002 at 08:31:32 PT
power barfed so hard
my intestines bled. This stuff is bad.
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Comment #12 posted by pppp on August 25, 2002 at 06:22:45 PT
....wudda steamin' pile-O-crap...
...this article is outstanding,,in that it is journalisticly below even National Enquirer grade!
 
 
""The Hells Angels and Asian-based organized crime groups, particularly Vietnamese-based groups, prevail as major
      participants in the large-scale cultivation and exportation of marijuana," the report says.      It adds that in British Columbia in particular, "both criminal organizations have realized that demand for marijuana
      nationally and internationally exceeds the supply of any one gang. "These groups currently tolerate each other's
      marijuana operations." Commissioner Zaccardelli said criminal gangs of different stripes are increasingly in cahoots
      with one another."
 
 
....yea...sure!......"..Hey Mongo,why dont you and Animal get on your choppers,and go over to Nguyens place and see if Akmed or Abdul has got the weed for these international orders!"
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Comment #11 posted by qqqq on August 25, 2002 at 00:27:50 PT
......the next "news".......
..will say that al-quaeda has taken over the supply of illegal drugs in the US ,,and that they have recruited most of the users of illegal drugs to carry out terrorist activities within the US...all drug offenders will be held in offshore prisons as "enemy combatants" under the usa/patriot act....mandatory drug tests will be required before obtaining a drivers license,or registering to vote!!!!!
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Comment #10 posted by herbdoc215 on August 25, 2002 at 00:14:47 PT
If ANYBODY knows a biker with a grow bigger .....
than 2 lights or producing more than an lb. of weed every 4 month's ( we won't even mention quality here as that is a nuance beyond most people's paradigm ) I'll give you 5000 seeds of any weed we breed for proof- NO SHIT!!!!! I have read this crazy crap since moving to Canada and for a long time dismissed it as RCMP joke/propaganda but I now see there are many Canadians too white to see through the boogie-man hype to look for the truth because it doesn't fit State approved doublespeak. REAL bikers became so and are so because of a well founded fear of working (not to mention water but I leave that be)-- and despite your tomato's you grew last year farmers still produce most of the perishable commodities grown from the earth and soil- Stewardship. This is a plant not alchemy or meth cooking (both of which bikers excel at) also does this Canadian definition of biker include everyone not wearing a collar, maybe everyone who owns a motorcycle cause they sure can't be talking about my definition of biker from growing up in KY because after all my teaching, work and experience in Marijuana business I have NEVER SAW ONE SUCH GROW OR DEAL GO DOWN- never, nowhere? Amazing but true. Come on people if I piss down your neck and tell you it's raining, you still going to believe me when you can't get the yellow stain out of your sock's? These SOB have never told the truth about anything else, why believe this shit? Peace, Steven Tuck   member #4 of the Sunshine Coast Compassion Club. What is it going to take to get everyone so outraged we change this? 
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on August 24, 2002 at 22:00:59 PT
North Korea
Why doesn't North Korea get into the cannabis business? They are so dirt poor, they could undercut everbody's price and make a profit. I think they should consider it. It would pull them out of the depths of their impoverishment. I would like to see cannabis become less expensive while helping out people in need.Next thang you know, diamonds will be ill eagle to own.Canada has the world's largest amount of fresh water. Maybe al Quaida can get into the fresh water business, and water will become illegal to drink.
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Comment #8 posted by VitaminT on August 24, 2002 at 19:53:51 PT
Hello Hope
I'd like to say that I'm from up there but alas I'm from down here too, Way down here - in Texas the GULAG State!Protect and Serve just doesn't mean what it used to!
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on August 24, 2002 at 19:36:14 PT
re: post #4 Sunshine Coast Compassion Club raided
Down here authorities would have torn the screaming child from her mother's arms and carried her away screaming, while they bound her mother's hands behind her back and yanked her up off the floor. The baby would be screaming...pleading and reaching, in sheer agony, for her mother. She would be removed from the mother's prescence. Possibly forever.
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on August 24, 2002 at 16:56:47 PT
Grow Your Own
The CISC report may give pause to anyone who thinks smoking a joint is a victimless offence. These same groups are involved in a number of illicit activities, from extortion to prostitution, violent crime, financial fraud and other crimes.WHAT IF YOU GROW YOUR OWN??? Can any anti out there explain how smoking a joint of your own personally grown cannabis is supporting organized crime or terrorism? I'm waiting. Can any narc reading this answer that? C'mon, we are civilized folks here. We can have an honest debate without name calling. I'd love to see your responses. Please?unrelated - Ashcroft Demands Records of 17 Senators Probing Sept. 11th. Attacks:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.25B.doj.17.sens.htm
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Comment #5 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on August 24, 2002 at 14:56:11 PT
Criminal behaviour (from our governments)
>>The CISC report may give pause to anyone who thinks smoking a joint is a victimless offence. These same groups are involved in a number of illicit activities, from extortion to prostitution, violent crime, financial fraud and other crimes.  Smoking a joint is a victimless event, one which should not be considered a crime. Funding outlaws is another story - but under the current laws, there's NO ALTERNATIVE SOURCE! I, for one, would LOVE to buy legal, taxed cannabis, and I would stop dealing with the criminal underground if my government would ALLOW me an ALTERNATIVE.
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Comment #4 posted by VitaminT on August 24, 2002 at 11:44:17 PT
from Cannabis Culture forums
Sunshine Coast Compassion Club raided 
by Dana Larsen (24 Aug, 2002) Founder Lisa Kirkman and her baby held by police for 2 hours.On Friday, August 23 at about 4pm, the Sunshine Coast Compassion Club was raided by Gibsons RCMP officers.Police officers, acting on a warrant, took club founder Lisa Kirkman and her baby daughter to the local RCMP station where they were held for two hours.Police searched the club and seized about a quarter pound of medicinal marijuana. Kirkman is likely to be charged with possession for purposes of trafficking.It's good to know that the brave Gibsons RCMP got that dAnGERouS BABY off the street - if only for a few hours! I'm sure our children are safer for it - close call, I need a BEER!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 24, 2002 at 11:07:15 PT
News Article from United Press International
Ontario Boosts Funds To Battle Biker Gangs By Martin Stone
From the National Desk
Published 8/24/2002 8:41 AM
OTTAWA, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The province of Ontario, Canada's richest and most populous, has declared war on outlaw biker gangs by infusing nearly $2 million into the Biker Enforcement Unit and taking direct aim at the Hells Angels and other motorcycle gangs. 
Officials said the Hells Angels have taken over most of the independent gangs in the province and now number about 200 members. The bolstered BEU, made up of agents from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario provincial police and 17 municipal departments, will more than double in size with the boosted budget, growing from its present 53 officers to 108, disbursed into 12 specialized units in various geographical areas. 
Complete Article: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020824-080151-1326r
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 24, 2002 at 11:00:14 PT
I don't understand all this
I don't often read articles about biker gangs because I feel they aren't the people who want to change the laws against cannabis. If a person was making lots of money from illegal drugs they wouldn't be interested in changing the laws because it would effect their income. 
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Comment #1 posted by herbdoc215 on August 24, 2002 at 10:53:02 PT
NewsFlash... BC Marijuana Party funded by Al Qaeda
Our secret-agent in disguise reported today this horrible fact, it even went further in saying Mark Scott Emery is really Mark Bin Laden and he's Oslama's brother. This bitterly guarded secret was wrestled from interrogations in which we at CISC drugged potheads with truth-serum and got the bloody details. These marijuana seeds even funded 9-11, with profits being used to set up terrorists camps all over the North Pole were they are now believed to be hiding out and growing more green death. We at CISC are presently trying to borrow a tactical nuclear bomb from our Brothers-in-arms to the south so we can just incinerate BC to be sure we cauterize the cancer that's spreading called "BC BUD". For God's sake we must hurry, the rest of the children in the world are depending on us!
Peace, Steven Tuck   ,in exile
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