December 19, 2023 • 32 mins
An undercover operation in New York reveals a connection with Tehran.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
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(00:40):
p per month. Currently only available on iOS. There's a
link in the show notes. Previously on Hot Money, in
the Netherlands, the government expelled two Iranian diplomats because of
an assassination connected to the Supercartel, while high tech police
hacked into the secret world of organized crime. This time,
(01:01):
we're in New York, so we picked.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It up in a high end vehicle. We were driven
to somewhere in Brooklyn, stopped buy a small restaurant. It
was nice and simple.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Angel's an international businessman. He arranges deals worth hundreds of
millions of dollars in his black book, has contacts from
all around the world.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
He's telling me about a meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It took place in New York in October twenty fourteen,
one day around lunchtime. Angel drives over to the Waldorf
Astoria in Manhattan. He picks up a woman who's flown
in from abroad. She gets inside Angel's luxury car and
they start talking deals.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I remember she just was she got comfortable, she opened up.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
There's something you need to know about Angel. He isn't
your average international businessman.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
She already knew. We were high leveled blog classickers, probably
multi tan. We were blog clasfickers from South America looking
to London.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
The money and the woman, she's a professional money launderer.
Angel's been working with her for a while, figuring out
ways to clean his cocaine money through various banks, all
of course for a fee. When they arrived at the
Brooks and Diner, they order some food and as they're
sitting at the table, she takes out her phone and
removes the battery. It's the sort of thing that someone
(02:17):
does in a spy show to avoid being tracked or recorded.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, that's very common. Actually, we've seen that plenty of times. Yeah,
she was very security conscious.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
They talked for a while about money and drugs, and
then the woman tells Angel she wants to talk about
something else today. She's looking to buy something high end
military equipment, tons of it.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's a serious shopping list.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
She wants rocket propelled grenades and sniper rifles and automatic weapons.
Angel well, he's clearly a well connected guy, and she's
wondering perhaps he knows someone who can help her out.
Luckily for her, he does.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So. You know, at that time, we had connections to
South America, so we offer that we offer them weapons
and any double weapon we could get from the military
in South America. If you're looking for Russian weapons and
stuff like that, you've got Venezuela. You look for American workers,
you got to Columbia. So we have that background, which
I think helped us a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Laundering drug money is one thing, but it's quite another
to just jump into an international arms deal. The Angel
doesn't miss a beat. He just smiles because Angel isn't
a drug trafficker. He's an undercover agent working for the DEA.
He's wearing a wire recording everything. And this woman at
the Brooklyn Diner, she's about to tell him who her
(03:36):
client is, and it will transform our understanding of how
the European drug trade really works. I'm Myles Johnson and
from the Financial Times and Pushkin industries. This is Hot
Money season two the New Narcos episode six Ties with Tehran.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Angel got transferred into the group and almost immediately became
a very productive part of the group.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
I said almost, and to be more candid on that,
I think no, no no.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I was having issues with other groups the group I
was in. I felt that they weren't aggressive enough.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I just took to him because I immediately respected his
work ethic. We shared an outlook, uh on how to
go after our job.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Setting up an interview with a former undercovered drug agent
isn't that straightforward. It takes a lot of planning and
some convincing, a little bit of cajoling. Of course, Angel
isn't his real name. During his career, he's infiltrated some
of the most dangerous organized crime groups in the world
from former undercover agents. We have to be very careful
(05:10):
about who they speak with because criminals, especially murderous cartel bosses,
they can have long memories. But after quite a few
phone calls, Angel agreed to talk to me on tape.
Alongside him is his longtime DEA colleague John Post. Like Angel,
John worked in the Drug Enforcement Administration the DEA for decades.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And he's seen it all.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
We noticed that all the all of your European traffickers
like to go hang out in a place called Marbella, Spain. Marbello, Marbella, Marbella,
it's the haven of you. Tell me, Miles, have you
ever been there?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I actually lived in Spain for four years. I was
reporting there for the Ft and it turns out I
was there at the exact same time as the Kinnahans
who were in Marbella, although I hadn't heard of them
back then. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Angel and
John because I think they can help us figure out
the connection between two things I've learned during my reporting. First,
we know the Iranian regime order the assassination of Alimtomed
(06:10):
in the Netherlands in twenty fifteen, and second, the man
who arranged the murder. He was found in a flat
belonging to the Kinnahans, the Irish family at the center
of the Dubai supercartel. John and Angel now work with
a private security company called Albatross Consultants, but they used
to work out of a dea Field office in Newark,
(06:31):
New Jersey, until twenty eighteen. John was in charge of
complex investigations into the nastiest international criminals you can imagine.
And Angel was the guy who was sent in undercover
to infiltrate these groups and win the confidence of notorious
gangsters and then gather the evidence needed to take them down.
He retired a few months ago.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
For some reason. Ever since I was a kid and
I was going to be a D agent. I don't
really know why. I think I must have seen it
in the movies or something. I was in junior high
school and I remember actually telling a friend of mine
that I was going to be a D agent.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Once he gets the job, it's not long before Angel
goes under cover, quickly learns the tools of the trade,
how to talk, how to dress, how to walk.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
One of the things that I learned was actually watching
people on the street or people in that environment. Right,
if you go into a corporate world, you canno dress
like a schmock. Right, if you're going to be on
the street, you can all show up with a clippy suit.
It's common sense, right, So you have to know where
you're going into and try to fit the part number one.
Number two. The other important thing, obviously is that your
safety and in worst case scenarios in case something happens,
(07:37):
because it's up you have to have a plan to
survive the situation. The rest is just you being charming,
using your personality.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And in those early days he hones his craft. He
spends hours listening to the tapes of previous operations.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I've made mistakes in the past where I listened to
recordings of what I was doing, and I just rolled
my eyes up myself, and I think I learned a
lot from it.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think gets good, very good. Angel becomes a critical
part of how John's unit works the major criminal cases.
John starts up in operation by targeting someone in the
middle of the hierarchy of a top crime group. He
figures out exactly where to begin by talking to his
network of sources, their informants he's developed over the years.
(08:22):
The first target needs to be big enough and scary
enough to be moving in the right circles.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
If you're dealing with some dude that's the best dope
Daily ever did in his life was a key lower coke.
You're not going to be able to do a thousand
keylock case with him. You'll be able to do maybe
a five keylock case. And that's stretching it. But as
you move up the ladder with higher level targets, you
get higher level informants, and your higher level informants get
(08:50):
you into the top level of the sophisticated organizations. I'm
talking high credential, confidential sources who go way back into
drug world and their credibility has been well established. So
when that person and walks through the door with Angel,
(09:11):
that's half of the job.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Once Angel's been introduced, he has to do more than
just look the part. He has to withstand and he
tests to challenge his credibility as a serious criminal.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
You want to see the cocaine, I'll show you the cocaine.
If you want to go see the laboratories, I'll show
you the laboratories. It can be worked out, and.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
At the same time, Angel needs to gather the evidence
that's needed to build a case. It's the critical skill
for any undercover agent.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Every law has different prongs that need to be met
for the person to be convicted of it. Did he
have knowledge, did he know it was dlug money? Whatever
it may be as an undercovery, if you have a
good relationship with the prosecutor, I know exactly what prongs
he needs to have met so he can feel comfortable
making a charge, so you can be glamorous about it
(09:57):
and spend your time wasting your time. Really, you know,
you're just shooting the shit with the guy right, clinking
or whatever you're doing, but you're not addressing those prongs.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Finally, that's the sting. And when on sens angel In,
he's always close by with the backup team.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He's always got a danger signal or you know, a
way to let us know if something's going bad and
we're ready to react. And I have been in situations where, yeah,
that signals giving. And the one particular what I'm talking
about was an undercover in the project's in a very
(10:33):
tough area and they actually said, don't kill me. I
have kids, And that wasn't the danger signal. That was
that was letting us know that there was a gun
on them, and like we're within seconds.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
We were there and he.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Had a gun point that I'm in the car, and
we were able to extract him. The bad guy target
dropped the weapon when he saw four cars converge on him.
But you know, like I said, everything else stops when
there's a risk to the undercover and boom. The priority
is getting the safety the undercover, getting him out of there,
(11:07):
and you know, make it your rest.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I mean, there's situations where I've been in basements in retrospect.
It was so stupid, you know, meeting some guys from
Yemen and the basement is dark, there's nobody there. I know,
if I was wearing a transmitter, no one could hear
me because I'm deep in a basement, you know, and
I'm like Jesus, I could easily get chopped up. Yeah,
(11:31):
it was in Brooklyn, you know, in retrospect. Right, So
it's an undercover assignment worth that risk, right for that prosecution.
What's the case that important that you're putting your life
on the line. John has had a lot of background
Mexican cartels and Columbian wald clafficers, and some of them
are killers. Once they get to know, they love us.
(11:53):
But but the killers, you know, we joke about it.
Such a great guy, Well he's a killer, but that
happens quite often.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Over the years, John and Angel forge a formidable partnership
working around the world targeting top gangsters that becomes one
of the most decorated in the whole of the DEA
for bringing in a slew of major cases. Angel even
wins DA National Agent of the Year.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
One time.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
In two thousand and eight, they get a tip out
of Panama that an Irish gang is looking to source
a huge shipment of cocaine.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
So hey, these guys want what three thousand kilos I
think it was three thousand kilos man, you know, and like, okay,
let's call them, meet them, well them, send them down.
What they were asking for was one hundred percent out
of money, three thousand kilo load and they were asking
us to transport it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
That's three thousand kilos three tons paid for entirely in cash.
At street value, that quantity itself one hundreds of millions
of euros.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Based on the intel we developed later, we're pretty sure
it was the Kennehans that we were introduced through.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
And they weren't blowing smoke. They were for real.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, they don't heavy hit us.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
This two thousand and eight running with the Hands in Panama.
It happened back when Christie was living in mar Baya,
two years before Operation Shovel.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
It's never been.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Reported before, and it just confirms to me how big
they were even back then.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, but they slipt through our fingers. We didn't get them, Yeah,
to get away.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We might come back.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Now you tell us they're in Dubai. Huh.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But I want to tell you about another one of
John and Angel's sting operations. It's one that sheds a
whole new light on the booming European cocaine trade. A
story that took place in twenty fourteen when they were
with that money launderer in a small Brooklyn restaurant and
things took an unexpected turn.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Now, when we do a money laundering case, it just
splits in different ways, like the trunk of a tree. Really,
you could take one branch you have Mondey laundering, you'd
take another branch blog grafficking, weapons trafficking. There's always other
criminal activity associated with that one crime. So this split
into the Kobaesi case. By chances, happened to be coming
(14:24):
to New York at the time.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The Kobazi case.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's October twenty fourteen, and John and angel A deep
into a multi country investigation. It started in the Dominican Republic,
where they busted a gang trying to ship a thousand
kilos of cocaine into Belgium on a private plane, and
after following the leads from that case, a new targets
come into view. Her name's i Man Kabazi and she's
(14:49):
a Lebanese woman in her late forties. She has dark
black hair, she wears expensive clothes and she's a professional
money launderer who works with cocaine traffickers in Europe. Angel,
working under cover, has been cultivating her for months.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Well, we got into a source. We have eventually met her.
Through sources, we were able to have a meeting with her.
During the meeting, we stock up a great relationship. Myself
and another person went out to dinner, lunch. We met
in different countries. We developed the personal relationship.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
As some went on, Angel gets close enough to Kebasi
to feel comfortable planning a sting. The first thing is
to set up a meeting. One of the DA's informants
tells her that they're expecting a large cocaine shipment to
come through Belgium and want to discuss how to launder
the proceeds.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And that's no problem for Kebaesi.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
She's able to move large amounts of cash anywhere in
the world for a fee of twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Kabazi travels to New York.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
She's staying at a fancy hotel, the Waldorf Astoria on
Park Avenue. Angel fixes up a lunch meeting so they
can discuss business.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So we picked her up in a high end vehicle.
We were driven to somewhere in Brooklyn. We stopped buy
a small restaurant.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Angel knows John is nearby, listening to the y and
ready to jump in if anything gets out of hand.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
You're not picking up everything.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Just to be honest with you, it's it's grainy, there's
background noise. He's in a restaurund. You know you're listening
for key safety elements.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
At the table.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It's clear to Angel the Kobazi's serious player. She says,
if he wants, she can arrange for planes containing multi
ton shipments of cocaine to land in Africa for him.
On their way to Europe, they paused for a moment
and order lunch.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I was some sort of American food, like something of
a fries it was.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It was he drank.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I drank a Lado.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
What brand did you drink?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You should do tequila, but the high end tequila.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
On John's kidding. Angel wasn't drinking on the job. And
it's a good thing. He wasn't because suddenly Kabazi throws
him a curveball.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So she after we established the relationship through the money
lundering side, then she to our sistance in getting weapons.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
She wants them to help us source military grade arms
and blueprints for heavy weaponry. She needs a lot of them.
In fact, she says their clients looking to buy as
much as possible. They need everything, and she suggests a
code word for the deal, fireworks.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's not the most subtle choice. I know.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Now, this isn't entirely out of the ordinary for Angel
drug traffickers or they like big guns.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So I mean, we didn't miss a beat, you know.
I think that's another thing. With the people that were
there doing the meeting, the experience level that we had,
we jump right on board, right. We quickly pulled our
military connections. In South America usually drug clafforcas, like many
other places in Latin America, they have high connections to
(17:57):
the military. In many countries, it's actually the military that's
unloading the drugs or from the dog shipments coming in
from the drug craffickers.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
An Angel knows that if needed, his confidential sources can
make it look authentic.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We're ready to produce generals. We're ready to prove who
we are. We're ready to show you the weapons, whatever
we need to do. We have that experience where I
know I can pull up a general if I need
it in Latin America somewhere. I know I can put
a ship in a weapis together if I need it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
At this point, Angels lunchr Kabaesi is paying off big time.
They've got way more in play now than just money laundering.
And then suddenly she stops the conversation. Look, she says,
I'll be very transparent. Angel's playing it cool and nodding
his head. He tells her now is the time to
(18:46):
be straight with one another before they jump into an
international weapons conspiracy together. And then she drops a bomb
the people she wants to buy the arms for.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It's the Iranian government.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I remember my jod loved Actually remember looking at a
camera that I had. I looked at a camera that
was looking at me like like just making her face
just for myself. You know, sometimes you put down you're
on TV or something, but you can't believe what you're hearing.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
So here's where we are.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Angels in a Brooklyn restaurant, sitting opposite a woman who
wants him to help her smuggle weapons for Iran. He
has to try and stay cool. But this is a
huge deal. What started out as a money laundering case
has turned into something much bigger.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
That was a great moment. Actually, just surprised, extreme surprise.
You know that I didn't know right from the beginning.
We're going to hit a home run.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And there's a reason why someone like Kabzi would be
trying to buy guns on behalf of Iran. Until Russia's
invasion of Ukraine, Iran was the most sanctioned country in
the world. It's been under US sanctions for more than
forty years since the nineteen seventy nine revolution, when over
fifty Americans were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran.
(20:18):
Since then, there's been wave after wave. There are response
to things like Iran's involvement in terrorist attacks around the
world and its nuclear enrichment program. Sanctions are away for
Western governments to punish the regime by cutting the country
off from the global financial system. It means that mostly
it's illegal for American companies to do business with critical
(20:39):
sectors of the Iranian economy. Things like banking and shipping
and oil, so it's inflicted a major cost, starving the
country of foreign investment and blocking imports of Western technology.
They can't just go and buy things on the open
market like other countries. All of this means they have
to come up with elaborate schemes to circumvent the sanctions
(21:00):
to get the things they want. It also means that
doing business with Iran it can land you in extremely
hot water. But that's exactly where Kobzi is hoping Angel
might be willing to do. She says, they're looking for
some serious kit. They want two hundred and fifty Cha
tac M two hundred sniper rifles, which are capable of
killing a target from two kilometers away. They want five
(21:24):
hundred M four assault rifles, and they want blueprints for
what she calls heavy weaponry. She starts telling Angel about
her high level contacts in the Iranian government and he
can meet with them to discuss specifications. They can meet
in Cyprus or the UAE. They're already planning on how
to get the weapons into Iran.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So when she starts talking about details of Iran Kish
Island etce in where her plan is, then.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
It was a surprise.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Kish Island is a free trade zone on an island
off the south coast of Iran. It's a regional tourism hub,
but Western governments say it's overflowing with smugglers.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And organized crime.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Kobazi tells Angel that she can get him diplomatic clearance
to land a plane full of weapons there.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I don't know if she actually mentioned the Cuds Force
for the military or Gorman personnel will actually unload the weapons.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
The Kuds Force is the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard that's responsible for overseas operations. It's sort of an
Iranian equivalent of the CIA, combined with special forces. It's
all quite a lot to process, but Angel, he's just
nodding along. He tells her he lands planes on secret
airfields all the time. This is already pretty big. But
(22:41):
then she brings up yet another business opportunity, the drugs
and the weapons.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
She tells Angel they're.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Good, but if they really want to make some serious cash,
they need to source spare commercial airline parts from Boeing.
Now that might sound a little odd, but plain parts
they're unbelievably difficult to source. For a country that's been
under Western sanctions for decades, and parts for Boeing planes.
You can't just swap them out for some other brand.
(23:08):
Kabazi tis Angel that her Iranian contacts are saying they
have fifteen planes that need new parts and they're willing
to pay top dollar.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Too much money, she says, billions.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Obviously she was in this world. She was hooked up
with the military. We happen to get lucky.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
After the meeting, Angel and John track a Baisi for
several more months. When they hear she's due to fly
into Atlanta, Georgia, they decide the times come to bring
her in. She's arrested. So let's pause it for a
minute and go back over exactly what's going on. We
have a money launderer who moves cash for cocaine traffickers
(23:49):
through Europe, and she says she works for the Iranian government.
She's offering top diplomatic clearance from Tehran to land weapon
shipments on islands, and she's also trying to find a
way around Western sanctions on things like plane parts. There
are lots of people in the murky world of drugs
and weapons who claim they have high level connections in governments,
(24:09):
it makes them seem more credible. So what I want
to know is just how serious she really was about
the arms deal, just how connected she really is in
the regime. In the court files for her case, US
government prosecutors say that her actions are quote hallmarks of
a person who's a professional arms trafficker, not a first
time neophyte. But that doesn't really answer my questions. I
(24:31):
tried calling her American defense attorney from the time, but
they said they couldn't contact her for me. According to
multiple sources I've spoken to, in the face of all
the evidence Angel and John had gathered, Kabazi pled guilty
to charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization,
conspiracy to laun the drug money, and conspiracy to provide
illegal weapons. But then I discovered something. It was something
(24:56):
that completely changed my understanding of who a man Kobazi is.
It shows that she wasn't exaggerating about her top level
contacts in Iran. What I didn't know, and what's never
been reported before, is that US authorities believed Kobesi was
a close associate of a man called Abdullah Safiyar Dean,
(25:16):
and he's a very big deal in Iran. In fact,
US intelligence believe Kobesi was previously married to Safiyar Dein.
I've confirmed it with five former officials from several different countries.
She even told investigators herself about the marriage. Safiy aal Dean.
He's the Tehran based representative of Hespoller, the Iranian backed
(25:39):
Lebanese political party, a militant group is designated as a
terrorist organization by the US, UK, Germany and many other
Western governments. Hespaala is Iran's most important proxy military force.
That's a way for a country to fight armed conflicts
against its rivals through a third party or a militia
that it sponsors, but without getting directly involved itself. And
(26:02):
that makes Safiya Dean one of the most influential people
in Iran. And he's still in Tehran today and regularly
appears on state television meeting with people like the country's
foreign minister. I was first told about Kobaesi's connection to
safi al Dean by a source of the record, so
I spoke with several more people who had direct knowledge
of the case in different countries. It's not easy to
(26:25):
find people who are willing to talk about this sort
of sensitive stuff on the record. But I did find
one person. His name's Udi Levy and he's a retired
Israeli spy. Udi's the former head of the mossads Economic
Warfare Division, a unit that tracked money secretly being moved
around the world by Iran, Hespoala and others. He spent
(26:47):
thirty five years in Israeli intelligence and worked on the
country's National Security Council. And I asked him what did
he know about the Iman Kobeesi case?
Speaker 5 (26:56):
What they didn't publish?
Speaker 6 (26:57):
And if you asked me, it was most of the
sensitive issue in the first time is the real connection
between the highest level in Iran to that case. From
that point of view, it was a very sensitive and
the European country afraid to blame directly the highest level
(27:22):
in Iran and his Balah in their involvement in that case.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Iran and Haspola are sworn enemies of Israel, and the
Mossad spends a lot of effort tracking the activity of
the senior officials and Abdalla Safi ald he's been a
person of interest to people at Udi for a very
long time.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Oh Dalla Safia dian is I think it is today
number three or number four in the his Bolah leadership.
It was his Baalah at the sha if, we can
call it like that in Iran and the main connector
between Iran and his Bala, very very senior, a lot
(28:06):
of influence involved directly in the decise making in his Bala,
well well connected to the Iranian directly. I think it
was the highest level in this system, the dealing with
drug trafficking with the full knowledge of the other leaders
of the Iranian and Risbala.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Udis saying that this is not your average diplomat, He's
more like royalty. Safi Al Dean is the brother of
Hesbala's second in command and a cousin of its top leader.
His nephew's married to the daughter of Cassim Sulamani, the
infamous Iranian commander of the Kuds Force who was killed
in the US missile strike in Iraq in twenty twenty. Basically,
(28:49):
Safil Dein is one of the most well connected men
in the Iranian regime. But for John and Angel, his
connection to Kobesi was just another detail in a case
that took an unexpected turn.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Yeah, it didn't mean much. Times I met moderwere our headquarters.
People we're failed investigators, were out in the street going
to the targets, gathering evidence.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
We didn't know she was married to or hooked up
that well until she brought it up, right, it was
her idea to bring up this weapons trafficking thing and
trying to court US to supply weapons.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Was she significant, Yes, she was significant. She pled guilty
to material support of terrorism and that you don't get
a charge like that every day of the week.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But there's something else that seems to me even more
significant about this case. Safia al Dean is accused by
the US government of being a mastermind behind various sanction
busting schemes. According to the US Treasury, he's the person
who acts as an advisor to Iran on financial matters.
They say he worked with Iran's central bank to move
hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid American sanctions. And
(29:54):
we know that Kobes she wasn't just laundering money through
Europe's cocaine trade. She was trying to circumvent US sanctions too.
She was trying to source weapons and vital industrial components.
I've tried to track down Kobesi to ask her about
all of this, but she's disappeared. She served several years
in the US prison and then she vanished. I spoke
(30:14):
with other people involved in the case, and they couldn't
tell me where she is now either. Some told me
they thought she was back in the Middle East, but
I haven't been able to find her. But now I've
found an indirect connection between one of the most powerful
officials in Iran and drug traffickers in Europe. And this
brings us right back to where we started this investigation,
the long Arm of Iran. So here's what we know.
(30:39):
According to the Dutch government, the Iranian regime ordered the
murder of Ali Muhammed in the Netherlands in twenty fifteen.
It was the targeted assassination of a man living under
a false identity, a man who was near the top
of Iran's list for revenge after he carried out a
huge terrorist attack in the early nineteen eighties. Finding him
and then assassinating him in the heart of Europe, it
(31:02):
would have required high level intelligence and authorization, someone at
the top of the Iranian government.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
And we know that the who arranged.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
The murder he was being protected in a Dublin flat
belonging to the Kinahans, the Irish family at the center
of the Dubai supercartel. John and Angel, they discovered that
money laundering connects cocaine traffickers in Europe with officials in Iran.
So could that explain what connects the Kinahans to the
assassination of Alimtomit.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's what we're going to find.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Out next time, and we'll meet a US attorney who's
digging deeper into the Kinahan money machine.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
It became clear to me as a prosecutor that what
they were doing is they were using the fighters as
a way to move money through the system.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Hot Money is a production of The Financial Times and
Pushkin Industries. It was written and reported by me Myles
John and if you've got any leads or information about
this story, you can email me at new narcosat FT
dot com. The series producer is Peggy Sutton. Edith Russello
is the associate producer. Fact checking is by Arthur Gompertz,
(32:23):
engineering by Sarah Bruguerer, sound design from Jake Gorsky. Jeremy
Warmsley wrote the original music. Our editor is Sarah Niss
and the executive producers are Jacob Goldstein and Cheryl Brumley.
Special thanks to Laura Clark, Alistair Mackie Breen Turner, Rya
Jalabi and David Fooks.
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
If you're enjoying this podcast and you want to hear
more from the Ft, the Ft Edit app gives you
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(00:40):
p per month. Currently only available on iOS. There's a
link in the show notes. Previously on Hot Money, in
the Netherlands, the government expelled two Iranian diplomats because of
an assassination connected to the Supercartel, while high tech police
hacked into the secret world of organized crime. This time,
(01:01):
we're in New York, so we picked.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It up in a high end vehicle. We were driven
to somewhere in Brooklyn, stopped buy a small restaurant. It
was nice and simple.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Angel's an international businessman. He arranges deals worth hundreds of
millions of dollars in his black book, has contacts from
all around the world.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
He's telling me about a meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It took place in New York in October twenty fourteen,
one day around lunchtime. Angel drives over to the Waldorf
Astoria in Manhattan. He picks up a woman who's flown
in from abroad. She gets inside Angel's luxury car and
they start talking deals.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I remember she just was she got comfortable, she opened up.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
There's something you need to know about Angel. He isn't
your average international businessman.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
She already knew. We were high leveled blog classickers, probably
multi tan. We were blog clasfickers from South America looking
to London.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
The money and the woman, she's a professional money launderer.
Angel's been working with her for a while, figuring out
ways to clean his cocaine money through various banks, all
of course for a fee. When they arrived at the
Brooks and Diner, they order some food and as they're
sitting at the table, she takes out her phone and
removes the battery. It's the sort of thing that someone
(02:17):
does in a spy show to avoid being tracked or recorded.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, that's very common. Actually, we've seen that plenty of times. Yeah,
she was very security conscious.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
They talked for a while about money and drugs, and
then the woman tells Angel she wants to talk about
something else today. She's looking to buy something high end
military equipment, tons of it.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's a serious shopping list.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
She wants rocket propelled grenades and sniper rifles and automatic weapons.
Angel well, he's clearly a well connected guy, and she's
wondering perhaps he knows someone who can help her out.
Luckily for her, he does.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So. You know, at that time, we had connections to
South America, so we offer that we offer them weapons
and any double weapon we could get from the military
in South America. If you're looking for Russian weapons and
stuff like that, you've got Venezuela. You look for American workers,
you got to Columbia. So we have that background, which
I think helped us a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Laundering drug money is one thing, but it's quite another
to just jump into an international arms deal. The Angel
doesn't miss a beat. He just smiles because Angel isn't
a drug trafficker. He's an undercover agent working for the DEA.
He's wearing a wire recording everything. And this woman at
the Brooklyn Diner, she's about to tell him who her
(03:36):
client is, and it will transform our understanding of how
the European drug trade really works. I'm Myles Johnson and
from the Financial Times and Pushkin industries. This is Hot
Money season two the New Narcos episode six Ties with Tehran.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Angel got transferred into the group and almost immediately became
a very productive part of the group.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
I said almost, and to be more candid on that,
I think no, no no.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I was having issues with other groups the group I
was in. I felt that they weren't aggressive enough.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I just took to him because I immediately respected his
work ethic. We shared an outlook, uh on how to
go after our job.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Setting up an interview with a former undercovered drug agent
isn't that straightforward. It takes a lot of planning and
some convincing, a little bit of cajoling. Of course, Angel
isn't his real name. During his career, he's infiltrated some
of the most dangerous organized crime groups in the world
from former undercover agents. We have to be very careful
(05:10):
about who they speak with because criminals, especially murderous cartel bosses,
they can have long memories. But after quite a few
phone calls, Angel agreed to talk to me on tape.
Alongside him is his longtime DEA colleague John Post. Like Angel,
John worked in the Drug Enforcement Administration the DEA for decades.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And he's seen it all.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
We noticed that all the all of your European traffickers
like to go hang out in a place called Marbella, Spain. Marbello, Marbella, Marbella,
it's the haven of you. Tell me, Miles, have you
ever been there?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I actually lived in Spain for four years. I was
reporting there for the Ft and it turns out I
was there at the exact same time as the Kinnahans
who were in Marbella, although I hadn't heard of them
back then. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Angel and
John because I think they can help us figure out
the connection between two things I've learned during my reporting. First,
we know the Iranian regime order the assassination of Alimtomed
(06:10):
in the Netherlands in twenty fifteen, and second, the man
who arranged the murder. He was found in a flat
belonging to the Kinnahans, the Irish family at the center
of the Dubai supercartel. John and Angel now work with
a private security company called Albatross Consultants, but they used
to work out of a dea Field office in Newark,
(06:31):
New Jersey, until twenty eighteen. John was in charge of
complex investigations into the nastiest international criminals you can imagine.
And Angel was the guy who was sent in undercover
to infiltrate these groups and win the confidence of notorious
gangsters and then gather the evidence needed to take them down.
He retired a few months ago.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
For some reason. Ever since I was a kid and
I was going to be a D agent. I don't
really know why. I think I must have seen it
in the movies or something. I was in junior high
school and I remember actually telling a friend of mine
that I was going to be a D agent.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Once he gets the job, it's not long before Angel
goes under cover, quickly learns the tools of the trade,
how to talk, how to dress, how to walk.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
One of the things that I learned was actually watching
people on the street or people in that environment. Right,
if you go into a corporate world, you canno dress
like a schmock. Right, if you're going to be on
the street, you can all show up with a clippy suit.
It's common sense, right, So you have to know where
you're going into and try to fit the part number one.
Number two. The other important thing, obviously is that your
safety and in worst case scenarios in case something happens,
(07:37):
because it's up you have to have a plan to
survive the situation. The rest is just you being charming,
using your personality.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And in those early days he hones his craft. He
spends hours listening to the tapes of previous operations.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I've made mistakes in the past where I listened to
recordings of what I was doing, and I just rolled
my eyes up myself, and I think I learned a
lot from it.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think gets good, very good. Angel becomes a critical
part of how John's unit works the major criminal cases.
John starts up in operation by targeting someone in the
middle of the hierarchy of a top crime group. He
figures out exactly where to begin by talking to his
network of sources, their informants he's developed over the years.
(08:22):
The first target needs to be big enough and scary
enough to be moving in the right circles.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
If you're dealing with some dude that's the best dope
Daily ever did in his life was a key lower coke.
You're not going to be able to do a thousand
keylock case with him. You'll be able to do maybe
a five keylock case. And that's stretching it. But as
you move up the ladder with higher level targets, you
get higher level informants, and your higher level informants get
(08:50):
you into the top level of the sophisticated organizations. I'm
talking high credential, confidential sources who go way back into
drug world and their credibility has been well established. So
when that person and walks through the door with Angel,
(09:11):
that's half of the job.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Once Angel's been introduced, he has to do more than
just look the part. He has to withstand and he
tests to challenge his credibility as a serious criminal.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
You want to see the cocaine, I'll show you the cocaine.
If you want to go see the laboratories, I'll show
you the laboratories. It can be worked out, and.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
At the same time, Angel needs to gather the evidence
that's needed to build a case. It's the critical skill
for any undercover agent.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Every law has different prongs that need to be met
for the person to be convicted of it. Did he
have knowledge, did he know it was dlug money? Whatever
it may be as an undercovery, if you have a
good relationship with the prosecutor, I know exactly what prongs
he needs to have met so he can feel comfortable
making a charge, so you can be glamorous about it
(09:57):
and spend your time wasting your time. Really, you know,
you're just shooting the shit with the guy right, clinking
or whatever you're doing, but you're not addressing those prongs.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Finally, that's the sting. And when on sens angel In,
he's always close by with the backup team.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He's always got a danger signal or you know, a
way to let us know if something's going bad and
we're ready to react. And I have been in situations where, yeah,
that signals giving. And the one particular what I'm talking
about was an undercover in the project's in a very
(10:33):
tough area and they actually said, don't kill me. I
have kids, And that wasn't the danger signal. That was
that was letting us know that there was a gun
on them, and like we're within seconds.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
We were there and he.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Had a gun point that I'm in the car, and
we were able to extract him. The bad guy target
dropped the weapon when he saw four cars converge on him.
But you know, like I said, everything else stops when
there's a risk to the undercover and boom. The priority
is getting the safety the undercover, getting him out of there,
(11:07):
and you know, make it your rest.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I mean, there's situations where I've been in basements in retrospect.
It was so stupid, you know, meeting some guys from
Yemen and the basement is dark, there's nobody there. I know,
if I was wearing a transmitter, no one could hear
me because I'm deep in a basement, you know, and
I'm like Jesus, I could easily get chopped up. Yeah,
(11:31):
it was in Brooklyn, you know, in retrospect. Right, So
it's an undercover assignment worth that risk, right for that prosecution.
What's the case that important that you're putting your life
on the line. John has had a lot of background
Mexican cartels and Columbian wald clafficers, and some of them
are killers. Once they get to know, they love us.
(11:53):
But but the killers, you know, we joke about it.
Such a great guy, Well he's a killer, but that
happens quite often.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Over the years, John and Angel forge a formidable partnership
working around the world targeting top gangsters that becomes one
of the most decorated in the whole of the DEA
for bringing in a slew of major cases. Angel even
wins DA National Agent of the Year.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
One time.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
In two thousand and eight, they get a tip out
of Panama that an Irish gang is looking to source
a huge shipment of cocaine.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
So hey, these guys want what three thousand kilos I
think it was three thousand kilos man, you know, and like, okay,
let's call them, meet them, well them, send them down.
What they were asking for was one hundred percent out
of money, three thousand kilo load and they were asking
us to transport it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
That's three thousand kilos three tons paid for entirely in cash.
At street value, that quantity itself one hundreds of millions
of euros.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Based on the intel we developed later, we're pretty sure
it was the Kennehans that we were introduced through.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
And they weren't blowing smoke. They were for real.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, they don't heavy hit us.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
This two thousand and eight running with the Hands in Panama.
It happened back when Christie was living in mar Baya,
two years before Operation Shovel.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
It's never been.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Reported before, and it just confirms to me how big
they were even back then.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, but they slipt through our fingers. We didn't get them, Yeah,
to get away.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We might come back.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Now you tell us they're in Dubai. Huh.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But I want to tell you about another one of
John and Angel's sting operations. It's one that sheds a
whole new light on the booming European cocaine trade. A
story that took place in twenty fourteen when they were
with that money launderer in a small Brooklyn restaurant and
things took an unexpected turn.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Now, when we do a money laundering case, it just
splits in different ways, like the trunk of a tree. Really,
you could take one branch you have Mondey laundering, you'd
take another branch blog grafficking, weapons trafficking. There's always other
criminal activity associated with that one crime. So this split
into the Kobaesi case. By chances, happened to be coming
(14:24):
to New York at the time.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The Kobazi case.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's October twenty fourteen, and John and angel A deep
into a multi country investigation. It started in the Dominican Republic,
where they busted a gang trying to ship a thousand
kilos of cocaine into Belgium on a private plane, and
after following the leads from that case, a new targets
come into view. Her name's i Man Kabazi and she's
(14:49):
a Lebanese woman in her late forties. She has dark
black hair, she wears expensive clothes and she's a professional
money launderer who works with cocaine traffickers in Europe. Angel,
working under cover, has been cultivating her for months.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Well, we got into a source. We have eventually met her.
Through sources, we were able to have a meeting with her.
During the meeting, we stock up a great relationship. Myself
and another person went out to dinner, lunch. We met
in different countries. We developed the personal relationship.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
As some went on, Angel gets close enough to Kebasi
to feel comfortable planning a sting. The first thing is
to set up a meeting. One of the DA's informants
tells her that they're expecting a large cocaine shipment to
come through Belgium and want to discuss how to launder
the proceeds.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And that's no problem for Kebaesi.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
She's able to move large amounts of cash anywhere in
the world for a fee of twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Kabazi travels to New York.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
She's staying at a fancy hotel, the Waldorf Astoria on
Park Avenue. Angel fixes up a lunch meeting so they
can discuss business.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So we picked her up in a high end vehicle.
We were driven to somewhere in Brooklyn. We stopped buy
a small restaurant.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Angel knows John is nearby, listening to the y and
ready to jump in if anything gets out of hand.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
You're not picking up everything.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Just to be honest with you, it's it's grainy, there's
background noise. He's in a restaurund. You know you're listening
for key safety elements.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
At the table.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It's clear to Angel the Kobazi's serious player. She says,
if he wants, she can arrange for planes containing multi
ton shipments of cocaine to land in Africa for him.
On their way to Europe, they paused for a moment
and order lunch.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I was some sort of American food, like something of
a fries it was.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It was he drank.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I drank a Lado.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
What brand did you drink?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You should do tequila, but the high end tequila.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
On John's kidding. Angel wasn't drinking on the job. And
it's a good thing. He wasn't because suddenly Kabazi throws
him a curveball.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So she after we established the relationship through the money
lundering side, then she to our sistance in getting weapons.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
She wants them to help us source military grade arms
and blueprints for heavy weaponry. She needs a lot of them.
In fact, she says their clients looking to buy as
much as possible. They need everything, and she suggests a
code word for the deal, fireworks.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's not the most subtle choice. I know.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Now, this isn't entirely out of the ordinary for Angel
drug traffickers or they like big guns.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So I mean, we didn't miss a beat, you know.
I think that's another thing. With the people that were
there doing the meeting, the experience level that we had,
we jump right on board, right. We quickly pulled our
military connections. In South America usually drug clafforcas, like many
other places in Latin America, they have high connections to
(17:57):
the military. In many countries, it's actually the military that's
unloading the drugs or from the dog shipments coming in
from the drug craffickers.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
An Angel knows that if needed, his confidential sources can
make it look authentic.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We're ready to produce generals. We're ready to prove who
we are. We're ready to show you the weapons, whatever
we need to do. We have that experience where I
know I can pull up a general if I need
it in Latin America somewhere. I know I can put
a ship in a weapis together if I need it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
At this point, Angels lunchr Kabaesi is paying off big time.
They've got way more in play now than just money laundering.
And then suddenly she stops the conversation. Look, she says,
I'll be very transparent. Angel's playing it cool and nodding
his head. He tells her now is the time to
(18:46):
be straight with one another before they jump into an
international weapons conspiracy together. And then she drops a bomb
the people she wants to buy the arms for.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It's the Iranian government.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I remember my jod loved Actually remember looking at a
camera that I had. I looked at a camera that
was looking at me like like just making her face
just for myself. You know, sometimes you put down you're
on TV or something, but you can't believe what you're hearing.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
So here's where we are.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Angels in a Brooklyn restaurant, sitting opposite a woman who
wants him to help her smuggle weapons for Iran. He
has to try and stay cool. But this is a
huge deal. What started out as a money laundering case
has turned into something much bigger.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
That was a great moment. Actually, just surprised, extreme surprise.
You know that I didn't know right from the beginning.
We're going to hit a home run.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And there's a reason why someone like Kabzi would be
trying to buy guns on behalf of Iran. Until Russia's
invasion of Ukraine, Iran was the most sanctioned country in
the world. It's been under US sanctions for more than
forty years since the nineteen seventy nine revolution, when over
fifty Americans were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran.
(20:18):
Since then, there's been wave after wave. There are response
to things like Iran's involvement in terrorist attacks around the
world and its nuclear enrichment program. Sanctions are away for
Western governments to punish the regime by cutting the country
off from the global financial system. It means that mostly
it's illegal for American companies to do business with critical
(20:39):
sectors of the Iranian economy. Things like banking and shipping
and oil, so it's inflicted a major cost, starving the
country of foreign investment and blocking imports of Western technology.
They can't just go and buy things on the open
market like other countries. All of this means they have
to come up with elaborate schemes to circumvent the sanctions
(21:00):
to get the things they want. It also means that
doing business with Iran it can land you in extremely
hot water. But that's exactly where Kobzi is hoping Angel
might be willing to do. She says, they're looking for
some serious kit. They want two hundred and fifty Cha
tac M two hundred sniper rifles, which are capable of
killing a target from two kilometers away. They want five
(21:24):
hundred M four assault rifles, and they want blueprints for
what she calls heavy weaponry. She starts telling Angel about
her high level contacts in the Iranian government and he
can meet with them to discuss specifications. They can meet
in Cyprus or the UAE. They're already planning on how
to get the weapons into Iran.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So when she starts talking about details of Iran Kish
Island etce in where her plan is, then.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
It was a surprise.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Kish Island is a free trade zone on an island
off the south coast of Iran. It's a regional tourism hub,
but Western governments say it's overflowing with smugglers.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And organized crime.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Kobazi tells Angel that she can get him diplomatic clearance
to land a plane full of weapons there.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I don't know if she actually mentioned the Cuds Force
for the military or Gorman personnel will actually unload the weapons.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
The Kuds Force is the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard that's responsible for overseas operations. It's sort of an
Iranian equivalent of the CIA, combined with special forces. It's
all quite a lot to process, but Angel, he's just
nodding along. He tells her he lands planes on secret
airfields all the time. This is already pretty big. But
(22:41):
then she brings up yet another business opportunity, the drugs
and the weapons.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
She tells Angel they're.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Good, but if they really want to make some serious cash,
they need to source spare commercial airline parts from Boeing.
Now that might sound a little odd, but plain parts
they're unbelievably difficult to source. For a country that's been
under Western sanctions for decades, and parts for Boeing planes.
You can't just swap them out for some other brand.
(23:08):
Kabazi tis Angel that her Iranian contacts are saying they
have fifteen planes that need new parts and they're willing
to pay top dollar.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Too much money, she says, billions.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Obviously she was in this world. She was hooked up
with the military. We happen to get lucky.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
After the meeting, Angel and John track a Baisi for
several more months. When they hear she's due to fly
into Atlanta, Georgia, they decide the times come to bring
her in. She's arrested. So let's pause it for a
minute and go back over exactly what's going on. We
have a money launderer who moves cash for cocaine traffickers
(23:49):
through Europe, and she says she works for the Iranian government.
She's offering top diplomatic clearance from Tehran to land weapon
shipments on islands, and she's also trying to find a
way around Western sanctions on things like plane parts. There
are lots of people in the murky world of drugs
and weapons who claim they have high level connections in governments,
(24:09):
it makes them seem more credible. So what I want
to know is just how serious she really was about
the arms deal, just how connected she really is in
the regime. In the court files for her case, US
government prosecutors say that her actions are quote hallmarks of
a person who's a professional arms trafficker, not a first
time neophyte. But that doesn't really answer my questions. I
(24:31):
tried calling her American defense attorney from the time, but
they said they couldn't contact her for me. According to
multiple sources I've spoken to, in the face of all
the evidence Angel and John had gathered, Kabazi pled guilty
to charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization,
conspiracy to laun the drug money, and conspiracy to provide
illegal weapons. But then I discovered something. It was something
(24:56):
that completely changed my understanding of who a man Kobazi is.
It shows that she wasn't exaggerating about her top level
contacts in Iran. What I didn't know, and what's never
been reported before, is that US authorities believed Kobesi was
a close associate of a man called Abdullah Safiyar Dean,
(25:16):
and he's a very big deal in Iran. In fact,
US intelligence believe Kobesi was previously married to Safiyar Dein.
I've confirmed it with five former officials from several different countries.
She even told investigators herself about the marriage. Safiy aal Dean.
He's the Tehran based representative of Hespoller, the Iranian backed
(25:39):
Lebanese political party, a militant group is designated as a
terrorist organization by the US, UK, Germany and many other
Western governments. Hespaala is Iran's most important proxy military force.
That's a way for a country to fight armed conflicts
against its rivals through a third party or a militia
that it sponsors, but without getting directly involved itself. And
(26:02):
that makes Safiya Dean one of the most influential people
in Iran. And he's still in Tehran today and regularly
appears on state television meeting with people like the country's
foreign minister. I was first told about Kobaesi's connection to
safi al Dean by a source of the record, so
I spoke with several more people who had direct knowledge
of the case in different countries. It's not easy to
(26:25):
find people who are willing to talk about this sort
of sensitive stuff on the record. But I did find
one person. His name's Udi Levy and he's a retired
Israeli spy. Udi's the former head of the mossads Economic
Warfare Division, a unit that tracked money secretly being moved
around the world by Iran, Hespoala and others. He spent
(26:47):
thirty five years in Israeli intelligence and worked on the
country's National Security Council. And I asked him what did
he know about the Iman Kobeesi case?
Speaker 5 (26:56):
What they didn't publish?
Speaker 6 (26:57):
And if you asked me, it was most of the
sensitive issue in the first time is the real connection
between the highest level in Iran to that case. From
that point of view, it was a very sensitive and
the European country afraid to blame directly the highest level
(27:22):
in Iran and his Balah in their involvement in that case.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Iran and Haspola are sworn enemies of Israel, and the
Mossad spends a lot of effort tracking the activity of
the senior officials and Abdalla Safi ald he's been a
person of interest to people at Udi for a very
long time.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Oh Dalla Safia dian is I think it is today
number three or number four in the his Bolah leadership.
It was his Baalah at the sha if, we can
call it like that in Iran and the main connector
between Iran and his Bala, very very senior, a lot
(28:06):
of influence involved directly in the decise making in his Bala,
well well connected to the Iranian directly. I think it
was the highest level in this system, the dealing with
drug trafficking with the full knowledge of the other leaders
of the Iranian and Risbala.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Udis saying that this is not your average diplomat, He's
more like royalty. Safi Al Dean is the brother of
Hesbala's second in command and a cousin of its top leader.
His nephew's married to the daughter of Cassim Sulamani, the
infamous Iranian commander of the Kuds Force who was killed
in the US missile strike in Iraq in twenty twenty. Basically,
(28:49):
Safil Dein is one of the most well connected men
in the Iranian regime. But for John and Angel, his
connection to Kobesi was just another detail in a case
that took an unexpected turn.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Yeah, it didn't mean much. Times I met moderwere our headquarters.
People we're failed investigators, were out in the street going
to the targets, gathering evidence.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
We didn't know she was married to or hooked up
that well until she brought it up, right, it was
her idea to bring up this weapons trafficking thing and
trying to court US to supply weapons.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Was she significant, Yes, she was significant. She pled guilty
to material support of terrorism and that you don't get
a charge like that every day of the week.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But there's something else that seems to me even more
significant about this case. Safia al Dean is accused by
the US government of being a mastermind behind various sanction
busting schemes. According to the US Treasury, he's the person
who acts as an advisor to Iran on financial matters.
They say he worked with Iran's central bank to move
hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid American sanctions. And
(29:54):
we know that Kobes she wasn't just laundering money through
Europe's cocaine trade. She was trying to circumvent US sanctions too.
She was trying to source weapons and vital industrial components.
I've tried to track down Kobesi to ask her about
all of this, but she's disappeared. She served several years
in the US prison and then she vanished. I spoke
(30:14):
with other people involved in the case, and they couldn't
tell me where she is now either. Some told me
they thought she was back in the Middle East, but
I haven't been able to find her. But now I've
found an indirect connection between one of the most powerful
officials in Iran and drug traffickers in Europe. And this
brings us right back to where we started this investigation,
the long Arm of Iran. So here's what we know.
(30:39):
According to the Dutch government, the Iranian regime ordered the
murder of Ali Muhammed in the Netherlands in twenty fifteen.
It was the targeted assassination of a man living under
a false identity, a man who was near the top
of Iran's list for revenge after he carried out a
huge terrorist attack in the early nineteen eighties. Finding him
and then assassinating him in the heart of Europe, it
(31:02):
would have required high level intelligence and authorization, someone at
the top of the Iranian government.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
And we know that the who arranged.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
The murder he was being protected in a Dublin flat
belonging to the Kinahans, the Irish family at the center
of the Dubai supercartel. John and Angel, they discovered that
money laundering connects cocaine traffickers in Europe with officials in Iran.
So could that explain what connects the Kinahans to the
assassination of Alimtomit.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's what we're going to find.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Out next time, and we'll meet a US attorney who's
digging deeper into the Kinahan money machine.
Speaker 7 (31:38):
It became clear to me as a prosecutor that what
they were doing is they were using the fighters as
a way to move money through the system.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Hot Money is a production of The Financial Times and
Pushkin Industries. It was written and reported by me Myles
John and if you've got any leads or information about
this story, you can email me at new narcosat FT
dot com. The series producer is Peggy Sutton. Edith Russello
is the associate producer. Fact checking is by Arthur Gompertz,
(32:23):
engineering by Sarah Bruguerer, sound design from Jake Gorsky. Jeremy
Warmsley wrote the original music. Our editor is Sarah Niss
and the executive producers are Jacob Goldstein and Cheryl Brumley.
Special thanks to Laura Clark, Alistair Mackie Breen Turner, Rya
Jalabi and David Fooks.
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