I talked with a gentleman recently about this subject of terrorist financing. Actually I had tried on numerous occasions to get him to grant me a telephone or email interview and about gave up hope, until out of the blue he sent me an email indicating his willingness to grant me a brief interview. Because he holds a very senior level in government, and various other privacy and security concerns he didn’t want me to use his name, location or reveal any contact information. As a journalist I have to honor such requests, otherwise I would never be granted the interview to begin with.
We started off by talking generally about the subject and I made note of the following:
1) The primary currency used in the “terror economy” was the US dollar, specifically the 100 dollar note. That was sort of shocking to me.
2) Most of the money generated by terrorists come from criminal and illegal activities, including “extortion, kidnapping, counterfeiting, credit card fraud and human trafficking”, just to name a few.
See article: Drug trafficking and the financing of terrorism http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/drug-trafficking-and-the-financing-of-terrorism.html
See also: Growing links between crime and terrorism the focus of UN forumhttp://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37780#.U4nmKmJdXfI
3) About 75% of all monies generated by terrorists were those derived from legitimate businesses and donations from businessmen. Other funding sources include mosques, charitable organizations & institutions, non governmental organizations.
See article: Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/islamic-charity-officials-gave-millions-to-al-qaeda-us-says/2013/12/22/e0c53ad6-69b8-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html
See also: A Financial Profile of the Terrorism of Al-Qaeda and its Affiliates http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/113/html
4) That most of the money generated from those criminal and illegal activities were “laundered” into US dollars, much of it inside the United States by the way, where it is then moved to places like Europe through shell banks and offshore facilities.
See article: HSBC Exposed U.S. Financial System to Money Laundering, Drug, Terrorist Financing Risks http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/media/hsbc-exposed-us-finacial-system-to-money-laundering-drug-terrorist-financing-risks
5) Terrorists financing is a highly dynamic, complex phenomenon, which constantly changes all the time.
6) Other funding sources include governments such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestinian Authority and the United States – yes I said the United States (which funds terrorism and terrorist groups in Syria fighting against the Assad regime).
See article: USA Admit to Funding Terrorists http://friendsofsyria.co/enemies-of-syria/usa-admit-to-funding-terrorists/
See video: US funds terrorism – giving guns to al-Qaeda in Syria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4urs0dwoUak
See article: American Tax Dollars Pay Palestinian Terrorists’ Salaries http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/11/author-american-tax-dollars-pay-palestinian-terrorists-salaries/
See article: US is the largest funding source to the Taliban in Afghanistan https://groundreport.com/us-is-the-largest-funding-source-to-the-taliban-in-afghanistan/
See article: US funding terrorists and seeking to undermine Syrian government http://www.examiner.com/article/us-funding-terrorists-and-seeking-to-undermine-syrian-government
See article: US funding the bad guys in Syria http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981925802
See article: US helping to train and arm Islamic mercenaries to fight in Syria http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/global-intelligence-files/161/us-helping-to-train-and-arm-islamic-mercenaries-to-fight-in-syria/10595/
See video: Tackling terrorist financing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-KaYs4XOy4
See video: ASF 2011: Financing terror http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaTrnbmBUMg