Handbags for Terror

My Liberia-al Qaeda Connection story is still drawing interesting remarks over at The Jawa Report. One commenter pointed out this story from CNN Money:

While the savvy bargain hunter can tell the real Coach handbag from a fake, many discerning buyers are missing one critical detail -- that purse or DVD for sale on the street corner might be funding a terrorist organization.

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee in Washington yesterday, law enforcement officers warned that terrorist groups such as Hezbollah are generating revenue by pushing knockoff handbags, T-shirts and other accessories sold on the street and at flea markets across the country.

Lt. John Stedman of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was among those who testified that items such as counterfeit Coach and Louis Vuitton purses as well as CDs, DVDs and tobacco were among goods that have been seized and linked to terrorist organizations.

In Los Angeles County alone, the Sheriff's Department reports that officers have arrested 125 individuals, and seized $16M in knock-off items and $3.5 million in cash.

The California law enforcement agency said it established a connection between the street vendors and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah mostly through admission by those arrested.

Nothing new here, but it does serve as a helpful reminder to be on the lookout for this sort of thing...