clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Daesh making $100m a year selling looted historic artefacts

August 7, 2017 at 9:56 pm

MOSUL, IRAQ – JANUARY 19: A general view of damaged Mosque of the Prophet Yunus after it has been rescued from Daesh by Iraqi Army in Mosul, Iraq on January 19, 2017. ( Cemal Bedrani – Anadolu Agency )

Daesh is profiting up to $100 million a year from the sale of looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria and selling them on the black market, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

A French security source, who was not named by the paper, estimated that the terrorist group has been funding it’s wars in the Middle East by selling historical artefacts from both war torn counties and selling them on the black market in addition to oil revenues. Other experts have estimated the amount obtained by the group to have reached tens of millions annually through such sales.

“ISIS is increasing pressure on this line of trafficking to compensate for the loss of petroleum revenue,” the French security official was quoted by the Journal as saying, using another name for Daesh.