Islamic State Creating Refugees for Trafficking Business

A migrant’s shoe is washed up on a piece of word in Pozzallo harbor, Sicily. (Photo: © Reuters)

Clarion Project, May 17, 2015:

The Islamic State (ISIS) has turned people smuggling into big business, reportedly making millions from trafficking migrants into Europe.

Time magazine gained access to an intelligence report on the Islamic State’s finances and wrote, “The report estimates that ISIS needs between $523.5 million and $815.3 million a year to run its operations, including to pay its fighters, run social services, and buy weapons and ammunition.”

Reduced income from oil production since the U.S. bombing campaign against their air fields has pushed the Islamic State into diversifying its revenue streams. The report states that Islamic State oil production has been cut in half since last year when the UN estimated to be making up to $3 million/day.

The report lists the Islamic State’s other income as follows:

• $22 million- $55 million taxing antiquities smuggling
• $168 million -$228 million taxing residents and businesses in Islamic State territory.

People trafficking is big business and the Islamic State is maneuvering to exploit the trade, according to a new report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

The report states that the Islamic State is deliberately creating refugees and attacking refugee camps in order to create more migrants to smuggle.

It states that the trade is worth “US$ 255 – 323 million per year in Libya alone. The value of this trade dwarfs any existing trafficking and smuggling businesses in the region, and has particularly strengthened groups with a terrorist agenda, including the Islamic State.”

The Islamic State is meanwhile continuing to make advances in Syria, coming dangerously close to the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Other historic cultural sites captured by the Islamic State have been destroyed, and it is feared that if it falls, Palmyra will meet the same fate. On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, “The Islamic State group executed by gunfire 23 civilians, including nine children, in the village of Amiriyeh, north of Tadmor [Palmyra]”

At least 76 people have been killed so far in the battle for Palmyra. The Syrian regime has reportedly pushed the Islamic State back.

U.S. commandos also carried out an operation and killed one of the Islamic State’s senior commanders: Abu Sayyaf.

Despite these atrocities, the Islamic State’s appeal in the West seemingly continues to grow along with those of other terrorist groups. In the UK, 56 teenagers were arrested last year on terrorism charges, double the previous year’s figure of 26. There were a record 338 terrorism related arrests last year, up from 254 previously.

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