Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has amassed a net personal worth of around $250 million due to his organization’s illegal drug smuggling operations, Al-Ittihad, an Arabic-language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, reported on Monday.
According to the report, which relies on senior Lebanese government sources, the scope of his fortune was discovered within the framework of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation against Hezbollah, which aside from its designation as a terrorist organization also operates as one of the largest drug cartels in the world.
Nasrallah, the report continued, appointed his most trusted associates to closely oversee the organization’s drug-smuggling operations.
In February 2016, the DEA said its international investigation had revealed that Hezbollah uses the money it makes from the sale of cocaine in the United States and Europe to fund the purchase of weapons for use in Syria.
The DEA said at the time that the “ongoing investigation spans the globe and involves numerous international law enforcement agencies in seven countries, and once again highlights the dangerous global nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism.”
Hezbollah members have established business relationships with South American drug cartels, the DEA said.