According to U.S. treasury department, the Islamic State (IS) which is also known as the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is earning a minimum of $ 1 million daily. According to the officials, this figure is attributed to their earnings from selling oil on the black market only and their actual daily earnings may be much higher. Ever since the rise of the militant group in Syria and Iraq this year, there has been speculation over the finances of the group. The U.S. treasury department has recently initiated efforts to investigate how the group is funding its operations. David Cohen, who is the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence is leading the Treasury department’s efforts in this regard.
Mr.David recently shed some light on his department’s ongoing investigation of the organization’s finances. He claimed that the IS also gets millions of dollars every month from various other criminal activities such as robbing banks, extortion and kidnappings. According to the investigation, the militants belonging to the group have made it impossible for citizens to run businesses in cities under their control such as the Iraqi city of Mosul. Businessmen are regularly forced to make payments to the organization due to which majority of the businessmen have closed down their businesses. The department also claims that there is strong evidence to suggest that the militants are involved in the sex trafficking of young females. Giving details about the group’s activity of selling oil outside the formal economy, Mr.David said that the group is extracting oil from the territory of Syria and Iraq that has come into their control. The department’s investigation has determined that after extraction, the oil is sold to various smugglers in countries such as Turkey. He added that the militants are selling the valuable resource at discounted prices to attract smugglers. This activity is said to be the major source of the terrorist organization’s revenue. In recent days, several cases of foreign citizens from countries such as Australia and United Kingdom joining the terrorist organization’s fight in Iraq have come to the forefront. Such reports are lending credibility to reports that the IS is gradually developing a strong support network all over the globe. Mr. David further stated that at the moment they are focusing on determining the group’s assets all over the world and freezing them.
The IS is led by an Iraqi by the name of Abu Bakral-Baghdadi who has labelled himself as the self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslims. The group aims to create an Islamic State in the Middle East and has capitalized on the instability in the region due to the Syrian civil war. The recent rise of the group as a globally recognized terrorist organization. While it started in June and the group now controls regions of Syria and Iraq. The brutality of the group has made other terrorist groups like Al Qaeda severe ties with it.
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