Law enforcement and intelligence officials have long known that counterfeit and bootleg cigarettes have been used to fund terrorism.
The excellent book “Lightning Out of Lebanon,” detailed just such a case in which a cigarette bootlegging ring in North Carolina and Michigan was churning out funds for Hezbollah.
Evidently these activities are not limited to the US. The article linked below from Malaysia details how the Jihadist terrorist groups Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyef are being funded by the bootleg cigarette trade in the Pacific Rim…
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/cigarettes-and-the-terrorist-link-1.365536
