Scope and dynamics of the INDIRECT use of SALW as a source of terrorist finance

SALW play a critical (indirect) role in enabling terrorist organisations to establish and maintain their control over territories and populations and provide them with strategic instruments facilitating the conduction of various income-generating activities. Numerous terrorist groups in the Middle East rely on kidnapping, extortion and taxation, backed by the coercive power of SALW, to fund their organisations. Hamas, ISIS, and AQAP have each engaged in these practices over time. A substantial portion of ISIS’s impressive war chest was derived from the smuggling and trafficking of oil and oil-related products. Finally, ISIS has also been engaged in human trafficking, migrant smuggling and drug trafficking which has been facilitated by the use of SALW.

More information available in Chapter 3.3.2.