Illegal oil sales, ransoms make jihadists among the richest

The Islamic State has become the world’s wealthiest terror group, earning tens of millions of dollars a month from illegal oil sales and ransoms, according to the United States’ undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The group, also known as ISIL, has seized a large swath of territory in Iraq and Syria. Its “primary funding tactics…include the sale of stolen oil, the ransoming of kidnap victims, theft and extortion from the people it currently dominates, and, to a lesser extent, donations from supporters outside of Syria and Iraq,” said David Cohen. Thus, he said, “there is no secret weapon to empty ISIL’s coffers overnight. This will be a sustained fight, and we are in the early stages.”

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