The three al-Qaeda agents assured the Colombians that they would have no problem moving their shipment of European-bound cocaine through the Islamist badlands of the Sahara. As supporters of the terrorist organisation’s North African branch, they would guarantee shipment of the drugs so long as they were paid fee of $2,000 per kilo. The trio thought they were setting up a deal with representatives of Colombia’s Marxist FARC guerrillas to smuggle up to 1,000 kgs of cocaine.