Pirated music and films fund terrorist groups in North

PIRATED music and films are funding terrorist groups in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, according to top police officials.

Contraband CDs and DVDs are becoming the “preferred method” for terror groups, including al-Qaida, to raise funds, according to a recent Interpol report.

The report was written by Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble for a US Congressional committee and seen by the Hollywood Reporter newspaper. Mr Noble wrote, “In July, 2003, Interpol concluded that the link between organised crime and counterfeit goods was well established and sounded the alarm that (intellectual property crime) was becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups.”

He told how funds gathered from entertainment piracy were going directly to Hezbullah leaders. “Counterfeit goods produced in Europe are sent to a free-trade zone in South America by a group of Lebanese criminals sympathetic to Hezbullah. The goods are then smuggled into a third country, to avoid import duties, where they are sold via a network of Palestinians. An unknown amount of the money generated through this activity is suspected to be remitted to Hezbullah.”

The report also said Irish terrorist groups used piracy to fill its coffers, but was not specific as to which groups.

No-one was immediately available at Interpol to offer comment on the report.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Recording Industry Association of America has evidence that two illegal CD plants in Pakistan are financed by Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian Muslim who was named by the United States Government as a “specially designated global terrorist”.

The Interpol report was reportedly put before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which was examining the impact of international copyright piracy.