From knockoffs of designer Kate Spade handbags to pirated DVDs, al-Qaida and other terrorist groups increasingly are turning to counterfeit goods to fund their operations, lawmakers were told Wednesday. The global trade in counterfeit goods is estimated at $400 billion to $450 billion a year, said Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the organization that coordinates information among law enforcement agencies in 181 countries. Noble did not have any figures on what percentage of funds may be going directly into the hands of terrorists, but he told the House Committee on International Relations that police agencies are “seeing the connection between terrorist financing and intellectual property crime.” He pointed to counterfeit cigarette trafficking by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and profits from fake CDs and other goods being funneled to Hezbollah in the Mideast. Full Story
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