recognizes a close connection between international terrorism and transnational organized crime, illicit drugs, money laundering, illegal arms trafficking, and the illegal movement of nuclear, biological, chemical, and other potentially deadly materials and weapons.
The exact nature of the relationships between terrorist groups and organized crime is not fully understood. However, Bovenkerk and Chakra (2004) suggest that the connections between terrorism and organized crime do for the most part tend to focus on the illicit drug trade with terrorists working directly with growers to cultivate the raw materials from which heroin and cocaine are made and with organized crime groups to move processed products to markets. Examples of groups that have used this particular relationship include the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Sendero Luminoso/Shining Path in Peru, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Chechen guerrilla fighters, and the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines.
A study conducted by Shelley, Picarelli, Irby, Hart, Craig-Hart, and Williams, et al (2005) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice analyzed the relationship between international organized crime and terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. These researchers stated that by the 1990s, experts had concurred that a significant convergence between international terrorism and transnational organized crime was emerging. While the two types of criminal behavior were and still are recognized as distinct, their convergence appears to be focused on methods rather than on motives.
In other words, Shelley, et al (2005) argue that criminals and terrorists who have chosen to work together do so because they recognize the potential for certain synergistic benefits. Both groups need to use the method and activities of organized crime such as fraud, extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in drugs and il...