AQIM bought Colombian coke in exchange for Libyan arms

Colombia’s largest insurgency, the FARC, has allegedly been exchangingdrugs for weapons with the North Africa faction of Al Qaeda,highlighting the international reach of the guerrilla’s criminalnetworks.

US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested two Colombians, one

an alleged member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

(FARC), along with three alleged members of a Salafist group linked to

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Algeria on drug trafficking

charges, according to the Spanish news organization Cadena Ser.

The Colombians were allegedly delivering a shipment of cocaine to swap

for cash, and arms acquired in Libya following the fall of dictator

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Spanish intelligence and DEA sources told

Cadena Ser that several months before, FARC collaborators had made

contact with members of AQIM, who had arranged the deal through

members of a local Salafist group operating under their orders.

It is quite possible that, as the investigation suggests, the group

has established ties with the FARC. They share a mutual hatred of the

United States. However, given the two groups’ disparate ideologies,

this is much more likely to be a purely criminal business relationship

than any sort of political alliance.