US Busts 7 Would-Be Drug Runners for Taliban

Men also tried to sell weapons, face extradition to US
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2011 3:18 PM CST
US Busts 7 Would-Be Drug Runners for Taliban
Missiles fired at suspected Taliban positions from Apache helicopters explode on a hillside in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province Sunday, May 10, 2009.   (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

The US is slapping seven men with charges of trying to peddle weapons and drugs to the Taliban, Reuters reports. In a global sting, agents posing as Taliban operatives arrested five men in Liberia and and two in Romania after the men went through on what they believed were legitimate deals to smuggle and sell heroin out of Afghanistan, as well as provide surface-to-air missiles to the terrorist group.

"This alleged effort to arm and enrich the Taliban is the latest example of the dangers of an interconnected world in which terrorists and drug runners can link up across continents to harm Americans," said a US Attorney in a statement. All of the men await extradition to face charges in New York City.
(More Taliban stories.)

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