While former President Barack Obama was in charge, many of our country’s laws were not enforced. Because of this, our law enforcement officers became extremely demoralized. However, now that President Donald Trump is in charge, they feel like their efforts to restore law and order are actually being supported and as a result, dangerous criminals are being arrested once again.

For example, federal authorities just arrested over thirty Muslims involved in a multi-state crime ring. They’re each accused of illegally selling cigarettes and synthetic drugs out of a number of convenience stores located in several states. What’s worse, they may have used the profits to fund terrorism.

According to reports, a recent law enforcement operation resulted in the arrest of 35 Muslim store owners. After being arrested, they were all indicted on federal conspiracy charges for “trafficking contraband cigarettes, distributing controlled substances and money laundering” by a grand jury. Each of them faces five to twenty years behind bars and a one million dollar fine if convicted.

For over two years, they group of Muslims allegedly worked together to buy cigarettes in St. Louis, Missouri, a low tax market, and sell them in New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois, both of which are high tax markets. They allegedly took the profits and laundered the money through accounts associated with their stores.

In addition to selling cigarettes, several of the stores sold K-2, an illegal synthetic drug also known as “spice.” They allegedly shipped chemicals purchased in China to the U.S. and made the product themselves. However, consuming synthetic drugs is extremely dangerous.

James P. Shroba, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA St. Louis Division, spoke about the risks associated with synthetic drugs. “Synthetic drugs that are sold as purportedly legal substitutes for cannabis and stimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, are neither legal nor safe,” he told reporters, adding, “these substances were never intended for human consumption and only serve to satisfy the avarice of the seller.” Thankfully, it’s now slightly more difficult to buy spice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcJNwcaagdU

To make matters worse, the Muslim men may have been sending their illegal profits to terrorists. This is because several terrorist groups support themselves by selling tobacco on the black market. According to France’s Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT), the Pakistani Taliban, Lashkar-E-Taiba, al-Qaida in the Maghreb, Hezbollah, Hamas, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), are the primary organizations making money off of tobacco smuggling and illegal sales.

In their report on Financing Terrorism, they explain that “recourse to this source of financing of transnational nature is facilitated by the existence of porous frontiers, weakness of Governments, an absence of checks and corruption. In some cases, especially war zones, cigarette smuggling is organised by terrorist or jihadist organisations under the guise of humanitarian aid (ex-Yugoslavia).” By pretending to help those in need, they can cross the borders more easily.

Special Agent in Charge James M. Gibbons of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Chicago told reporters that, in order to bust crime rings like this, a massive amount of cooperation is required. “The collaboration with our federal and local law enforcement partners is the key to breaking criminal enterprises in this area,” he explained.

In this particular case, several agencies, including HSI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Revenue and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax, and Trade Bureau were involved in the investigation.

Unfortunately, this is not the first Islamic crime ring with possible links to terrorism busted by federal authorities. Back in 2006, thirty-three Muslims were arrested for living in the country illegally. To gain entry, each of the suspects allegedly filled out fake religious workers’ visa applications.

It is extremely important that criminals are held accountable for their actions. President Trump should continue to offer our law enforcement officials as much support as possible. Doing so will make our country a safer place.