U.S. Customs Service Expands Terrorism Financing Teams as U.S. Prosecutions Increase

On January 9, 2002, as the U.S. investigations and prosecution grow, the U.S. Customs Services announced the doubling of the operations devoted to investigating terrorist financing. The U.S. Customs Services is expanding from 240 to 460 the number of officials investigating terrorist financing. In particular, it will reallocate at least 15 investigators to terrorist financing from other assignments and will ask other U.S. agencies, namely the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, to expand the number of their own agents working on these matters. In addition to a full-time task force in New York City, the U.S. Customs Service will also establish teams in Buffalo, Detroit, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities. Teams are likely to be composed of seven or eight agents, several analysts and a supervisor. The FBI also has a unit dedicated to investigating terrorist financing. Since the Customs Service established its terrorist financing operation 15-months ago, investigators have opened approximately 600 terror financing investigations, arrested 78 people, executed 177 searches and seized some $33 million. Not surprisingly the amount of new prosecutions for terrorist financing are increasing. In December 2002, indictments charging more than 24 people and executing warrants in Seattle, Dallas, Boston, Buffalo, Detroit and elsewhere involving accusations of overseas money laundering and illegal exports to terrorists and rogue nations arose from investigations by the Customs Service and F.B.I. The redeployment of investigators illustrates that counter-terrorism financing meets some suggestions of an outside group analyzing U.S. enforcement structures for the Council on Foreign Relations. The deployment indicates the degree of specialization in international enforcement work.