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. 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 checks 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 way 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 an FTO through the provision of financial support for Hezbollah.
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
3
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, most 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 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.
4
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.