Washington, July 17: From knockoffs of designer handbags to pirated DVDs, Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups increasingly are turning to counterfeit goods to fund their operations, lawmakers were told. The global trade in counterfeit goods is estimated at 400 billion dollar to 450 billion dollar a year, said Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of Interpol, the organisation that coordinates information among law enforcement agencies in 181 countries. Noble did not have any figures on what percentage of funds may be going directly into the hands of terrorists, but he told the house committee on international relations yesterday that police agencies are "seeing the connection between terrorist financing and intellectual property crime."
He pointed to counterfeit cigarette trafficking by paramilitary groups in northern Ireland and profits from fake CDs and other goods being funneled to Hezbollah in the mideast. Noble said some supporters of Al-Qaeda have been found with huge amounts of counterfeit items.

Larry Johnson, a consultant on counterfeiting and money laundering, testified that sources of state-sponsored terrorism are disappearing, leading terror groups to pursue other avenues.

Committee chairman Henry hyde said that "should make you think twice before buying that knockoff purse or a fake CD."

Nearly half of the seizures of fake handbags, video games and other goods in 2002 originated from China, and over one-fourth came from Taiwan, he said.

Bureau Report.