They were caught in two separate undercover stings by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who say there is a "growing nexus" between illegal narcotics trafficking and terrorism funding.
"Both (plots) were prepared to traffic in terrorism, not just drugs," said Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan, at a news conference yesterday, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
In both cases, confidential government informants posing as associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban told the defendants that the heroin was destined for the US and that the profits would be used to fund known terrorist groups, according to the indictments.
Taza Gul Alizai, an Afghan man, allegedly sold six AK-47 assault rifles and about 15 kilograms of heroin over a two-year period to a DEA informant who purported to be a broker of weapons and drugs and said profits from the drug sales would be given to the Taliban, according to one of the indictments.
In the other indictment, three men have been charged in alleged conspiracies to import heroin or to provide material support to Hezbollah.
Sioavosh Henareh, also known as 'the Doctor', allegedly agreed to help government informants import heroin to the US, prosecutors said. The informants allegedly told Henareh that profits from the sale of heroin in the US would go to Hezbollah, according to court documents.