Cutting the Link Between Drugs and Terrorists: Countering Major Terrorist-Financing Means

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the Taliban and the PKK's involvement in the opium trade. This thesis fills a gap by illustrating the extent to which terrorist organizations use drugs to raise funds in five stages of the heroin trade, including cultivation, manufacturing, shipment, sale, and consumption. These two terrorist organizations have particular strengths and weaknesses that are identified in this thesis. This thesis proposes the counter narcoterrorism solution model, which displays both the convergent and divergent stages of the opium trade. The manufacturing stage is the only stage where the products converge into countable and targetable laboratories. This model suggests that targeting the opium manufacturing process is not only cost effective, but can also reduce the Taliban's as well as the PKK's illegal funds.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA585525

Entities

People

  • Kashif J. Khan
  • Olcay Er

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Case Studies
  • Central Europe
  • Commerce
  • Criminals
  • Drug Abuse
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • Manufacturing
  • National Security
  • Police
  • Satellite Phones
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists

Readers

  • Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse Science in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design