
The secret source of ISIS' money -- the findings will shock you
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How does ISIS afford to make their highly produced propaganda videos or create their magazine? How is ISIS able to reach out and convince the masses to join their terrorist group?
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
2/20/2015 (1 decade ago)
Published in Middle East
Keywords: ISIS, terrorist, money, oil, ransom, jihad, Islamic State, finance, Syria, Iraq
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According CNN's experts, ISIS' "moneymaking methods are highly sophisticated, especially for a new terror group." Together, as a group, they bring in millions of dollars a day.
Producing and smuggling oil as been their main source of daily revenue. Sources explain to CNN that ISIS is making between $1 million to $2 million each day in oil sales.
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People throughout the Middle East are often in desperate need of oil for their everyday living. ISIS smuggles oil from the refineries and wells on land in their control in northern Iraq and norther Syria and takes it to those who need it most, like southern Turkey, for example.
ISIS is estimated as producing 4,000 barrels of oil a day in Iraq and 44,000 barrels in Syria, according to Foreign Policy.
The United States-led coalition actively fighting ISIS has targeted their oil assets numerous times, seeking to damage their main financial system.
ISIS is currently controlling 6 million people in Iraq and Syria through oil and gas needs.
A lot of ISIS' money also comes from ransoms. ISIS kidnaps people from all different countries and asks for large amounts of money in exchange for the person's life.
One Swedish company reportedly gave ISIS $70,000 to save one of their employees.
"Though officials publicly deny paying ransoms, the French purportedly have a policy of negotiating with militant groups to free its citizens. ISIS kidnapped Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier Francois, in 2013 in Syria," said CNN National Security analyst Peter Bergen. "They were released in April 2014."
If people dig at ancient sites in Syria, ISIS gets a percentage of the monetary value of anything found, according to a 2014 New York Times opinion piece, by three people who heard firsthand about ISIS' moneymaking strategies.
They pillage and take anything and everything, seriously damaging Syria's cultural heritage.
ISIS also implements taxes in the areas they control, like a legitimate state. "In ISIS-controlled areas, to get anything done, or to survive, the people pay a fee to the terror group," explains CNN. "Businesses are taxed if they want to have essential things like electricity and security."
Just in June 2014, ISIS raided banks and stole an estimated $500 million and they also gain revenue through control of crops in Syria, "a kind of breadbasket" state.
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Last year, ISIS announced they would do be doing away with the traditional money outlets and start minting its own gold, silver and copper coins for its "Official Islamic State Financial System."
This move is "purely dedicated to God," expressed ISIS. This plan will remove Muslims from "the global economic system that is based on satanic usury."
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