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Report says Indian cigarette smuggling funds terrorism 

Cigarette-smuggling rackets originating on New York's Indian reservations are resulting in huge sums of money being transferred to Middle East terror groups, according to a report issued today by Republicans on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

"In total, law enforcement officials in New York State estimate that well-organized cigarette smuggling networks generate between $200,000-$300,000 per week," said the report, which was commissioned by Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford.

"A large percentage of the money is believed to be sent back to the Middle East, where it directly or indirectly finances groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaida."

The report, based largely on interviews with state and federal law enforcement officials, offers no new large-scale evidence of cigarette money flowing to terrorists.

Instead, it recounts the 2003 case of two women from the Seneca Nation of Indians who were sentenced for their role in a smuggling ring that ended up profiting a Hezbollah-linked network in Dearborn, Mich.

The study also sites the "Lackawanna Seven,"

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