General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ISIS "tremendously well-funded". By whom? ...and why aren't we choking the funds off and prosecuting [View all]pnwmom
(109,061 posts)Many other countries do.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/multiple-kidnappings-for-ransom-funding-isis-source-says/
Much of the funding for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is coming from extortion and "multiple kidnappings for ransom," a counterterrorism source told CBS News.
The kidnappings are primarily from citizens of European countries, including employees of corporations who quietly pay the ransom demands to get their people back, the source told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton. Recently a Scandinavian corporation paid $70,000 for the return of a kidnapped employee, Milton reports.
SNIP
A U.S. official told the Associated Press that the ISIS militants who beheaded Foley had demanded 100 million Euros (about $132.5 million) in ransom for his release. A second U.S. official told The AP that the demands were sent in emails to Foley's family in New Hampshire. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ransom demands by name.
ISIS has taken a page out of the al Qaeda game book to use ransom as a source of revenue, the source told Milton. However, ISIS differs from al Qaeda in that the group has in some ways developed a "hybrid form of funding" that is both global and local, according to CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan Zarate.