ISIS earning millions through sale of oil and extortion

September 14, 2014 20:09

Islamic State militants, who once relied on wealthy Persian Gulf donors for money, have become a self-sustaining financial juggernaut. According to US intelligence inputs, the terrorist group is earning more than $3 million a day from oil smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion The extremist group's resources exceed that "of any other terrorist group in history," said a US intelligence official. The Islamic State group has taken over large sections of Syria and Iraq, and controls as many as 11 oil fields in both countries, analysts say. It is also earning hundreds of millions of dollars from smuggling antiquities out of Iraq to be sold in Turkey. Other revenue comes from extortion payments, ransom from kidnapped hostages, and outright theft of all manner of materials from the towns the Islamic State group has seized, analysts say.

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