The mechanics applied by the Hamoud brothers' operation entailed the use of counterfeit credit cards as a way through which they could access finances and transfer money that was used in the financing of the operation by the brothers. In order to make the purchases and at the same time have the ability to conceal their identities, the brothers figured out that the best approach would be with cheque that have been frequently created and use social security cards that had been stolen from the owners (Rubin, Gunaratna, & Jerard, 2011). By doing so, they were able to remain unknown to the authorities for several years where they were involved in the business and being able to finance the terrorist organization for a long period.
Based on the nature of the activities and the manner in which the Hamoud brothers used the money generated from their illegal cigarette business, they broke a collection of laws and regulations governing immigration and the financing of terrorists. For this reason, the two brothers were mainly charged with violations of immigration laws, the sale of contraband cigarettes, money laundering, fraud with mail, and credit card fraud (Levitt, 2005). In addition, Hamoud was charged with conspiracy to provide material support for a group designated by the U.S. government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) through the provision of financial support for Hezbollah.
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Hezbollah was also regarded as the ‘Party of God’ and is a Muslim group that was formed with the intention of fighting against Israel and what they considered as the Western imperialism in Lebanon. Notably, the terrorist organization does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel and has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the U.S State Department. The mission of the group is to ensure the establishment of an Islam government across the Arab, which will, in turn, liberate Jerusalem from the bondage of the State of Israel (Rubin et al., 2011). According to intelligence from Israel authorities, the group has over the years managed to create a stockpile that consists of 150,000 rockets, with some of them being missiles that have the capability of striking major Israel cities and bring about massive damage.
Some of the methods through which Hezbollah receive financing and support is through remittances made by foreign expatriates. Notably, the majority of the financial support received by Hezbollah is made by support of the terrorist organization that is located in different countries across the world. This majorly includes Lebanese nationals located in other parts of the world, such as Africa. In addition, the terrorist group also received financial support and material support from countries such as Syria and Iran, who have been known to offer military support for the terrorist organization, including training (Rubin et al., 2011).
The key strategies employed by authorities as a means to curb the financing of terrorist include the involvement of banks and other financial authorities in order to share intelligence with the authorities and to aid in sealing all the gaps that give a chance for the terrorist to access financing through the infrastructures provided by the financial institutions. In addition, banks and financial institutions are asked to conduct a wide variety of due diligence activities as a means to identify and curb any manner of terrorist financing through the financial institution (Levitt, 2005). They are tracking and reporting on any activities that involved raising funds and transferring any funds to terrorist hot spots with checkpoints and red flags to enable prompt interventions to prevent the transfer of funds.
References
Levitt, M. (2005). Hezbollah: financing terror through criminal enterprise. testimony before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, US Senate , 25 .
Rubin, L., Gunaratna, R., & Jerard, J. A. R. (Eds.). (2011). Terrorist rehabilitation and counter-radicalisation: New approaches to counter-terrorism . Routledge.
