ISIS functions like a CARTEL and is financially savvy says terror expert attacking Ma

[Boats]

ISIS functions like a CARTEL and is financially savvy says terror expert attacking Macron
By ROMINA MCGUINNESS - PUBLISHED: 00:01, Fri, 4-27-18 | UPDATED: 18:25, Fri, 4-27-18
RE: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...ron-simplistic

TERRORISM expert Clément Fayol has warned Islamic State (ISIS) militant group functions “like a cartel,” before dismissing president Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to cut off terrorism at its roots as “simplistic”.

“Extremist organisations like ISIS existed before they had money. And so if they lose one source of funding, they will simply find another one. When ISIS started struggling to sell off its petrol, it switched to selling art, for example.

“Which is why Emmanuel Macron’s claim that we can simply stem the flow of funds to terrorist groups is a little bit simplistic, because ISIS functions like a cartel,” Mr Fayol told Europe 1 radio.

Mr Macron said during a closing speech at the “No Money for Terror” conference in Paris on Thursday that there would be “no more ambiguity” regarding ISIS and al-Qaeda, and that “too many countries have nourished movement with direct links to terrorism”.

He said: “We need to cut off terrorism at its roots: terrorism feeds off human trafficking, drugs, or weapons. There is always an underlying economic interest. We need greater transparency and political mobilisation [if we are to effectively tackle terrorist financing].”

The young centrist also called for all participants to join forces against their “common enemy” despite their differences: “Our enemies are infiltrating our societies at their very heart. And they are using sophisticated financial techniques to do so.”

Mr Fayol, for his part, argued that ISIS’ recent territorial losses had had little impact on the group’s finances.

“ISIS works with several financial institutions – just like the mafia. It may have lost territory, but it has not lost its financial contacts, who are also its sources of funding,” he said.

Earlier this week, an unnamed French presidential official said that ISIS had earned about 820 billion euros (£720 million) a year between 2014 and 2016. More than enough to help the group rebuild itself.

Mr Fayol also warned that ISIS’ success in establishing a caliphate – albeit a fleeting one – in Iraq and Syria was “priceless” in the eyes of its followers.

“They had their own territory, a huge network, offshoots and followers.

"Their achievements are priceless because they serve to legitimise the group. The ‘ISIS’ brand is hard to value, but it’s worth something,” he said.

More than 245 people have been killed in France in attacks inspired or orchestrated by ISIS since January 2015, and the “No Money for Terror” conference was spearheaded by Mr Macron to coordinate efforts to reduce the terror threat in the long term.