Terrorist groups are profiting as part of a money-laundering operation involving hundreds of millions of dollars Australians are spending on illegal drugs.

The revelations come as Australia's biggest money-laundering investigation, Project Eligo, has identified hundreds of unwitting Australian residents being duped into helping to launder the drug money overseas - including funds generated by outlaw motorcycle gangs and people-smuggling operations.

It is believed at least one of the ''exchange houses'' used in the Australian laundering operation delivers a cut from every dollar it launders to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, whose military wing has been proscribed in Australia as a terrorist group.

The investigation has uncovered 40 separate money-laundering operations across Australia, moving hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money offshore, and identified almost 130 serious organised crime figures previously unknown to law-enforcement agencies.

One of the ways drug money can be laundered offshore involves crime figures targeting Australian residents - mostly foreign nationals and students - who are expecting a foreign bank, remittance service or business overseas to send money into their local account.