Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah denied on Thursday any links with a drug-ring captured in Colombia and said such reports are aimed at defaming the image of the movement, reported dpa.
"This is part of a Zionist campaign against the movement to defame its picture and they are based on pure lies," said Nawaf al Mussawi, Hezbollah's foreign affairs officer.
Mussawi met with the Colombian Ambassador to Lebanon, Georgina Mallat and handed her a condemnation letter, which stated that Hezbollah "does not participate in outlawed missions."
Colombian authorities said on Tuesday that they had broken up a drug and money laundering ring in an international operation that included the capture of three people suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah guerrillas.
More than 100 suspects were arrested in Colombia and overseas on charges that they trafficked drugs and laundered cash for Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel and outlawed paramilitaries, in a network that stretched from South America to Asia, the attorney's general office said.
"The criminal organization used routes through Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala, the Middle East and Europe, bringing in cash from the sale of these substances," the statement said.
Among those arrested in Colombia were three people suspected of coordinating drug smuggling to send some of their profits to groups like Hezbollah, the office said.
Those suspects - Chekry Mahmoud Harb, Ali Mohamad Abdul Rahim and Zacaria Hussein Harb - used front companies to send drug cash overseas, it stated, without providing further details.