Osama’s last bequest: $29m for jihad

Authorities have released Osama bin Laden’s last will and testament. It was taken from his hideout in Pakistan. It is interesting that he intended to leave most of his money to family members with the assumption that they would carry out his work. We had been told elsewhere by defenders of Saudi Arabia that the Bin Laden family construction company and the Bin Laden relatives have nothing to do with Osama. Perhaps not.  Remember that Osama’s sister-in-law, Carmen bin Laden, once said, “Bin Ladens never disowned Osama; in this family, a brother remains a brother, no matter what he has done.”

The other interesting point is that this serves as further evidence that Osama bin Laden did not exhaust his personal wealth for Al Qaeda operations. He used other people’s money for that. Neither the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks nor the Afghan mujahideen’s fight against the Soviets were funded from bin Laden’s private accounts, contrary to the public image he liked to present.

…I, Usama Bin Muhammad ‘Awadh Bin ‘Abud Bin Laden, have signed below. In regard to the money that is in Sudan, it is about 29 million dollars. According to the mediator, I have received one-million one-hundred thousand in Sudan, eight-hundred thousand in Jalalabad, and then about one-million two-hundred fifty-thousand in Qandahar. I received twelve million dollars from my brother Abu Bakir Muhammad Bin [Laden] on behalf of Bin Laden Company for Investment in Sudan. I hope, for my brothers, sisters, and maternal aunts, to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on Jihad, for the sake of Allah. Also, I need you to take 1% from the total and give it to Shaykh Abu Hafs al-Mauritani. By the way, he has already received 20,000-30,000 dollars from it, he said. I promised him that I would reward him if he took it out of the Sudani Government…

 

 

ISIS manipulates currency in northern Iraq

Reuters says that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) “rigs currency rates.”  That sounds sophisticated—activity you would expect from a central bank.  Once you read their article you find that ISIS is forcing currency dealers in Mosul to exchange fewer dollars for the same amount of Iraqi dinars.  That sounds more like an organized crime racket than public financial administration.  Either way you cut it, ISIS’s fighters are getting pinched with lower wages, which is a good thing.

Islamic State rigs currency rates in Mosul to prop up finances

Islamic State militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are manipulating the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Iraqi dinars to squeeze money out of local people as coalition bombers attack the group’s finances.

The U.S-led coalition has said that in addition to attacking Islamic State’s fighters and leaders it will go after financial infrastructure too.

Air strikes have reduced Islamic State’s ability to extract, refine and transport oil, a major source of revenue that is already suffering from the fall in world prices. Since October the coalition says it has destroyed at least 10 “cash collection points” estimated to contain hundreds of millions of dollars.

U.S. military officials say reports of Islamic State cutting fighters’ wages by up to half are proof that the coalition is putting pressure on the group.

Average pay has been cut from $400 to $200 a month. While wages for foreign fighters, which were between $600 to $800, have also been cut, it is not clear by how much, said U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition.

Yet the militants, who have near total control of the local economy, appear to have adapted to these setbacks in Mosul by introducing a new revenue stream.

The group earns dollars by selling basic commodities produced in factories under its control to local distributors, but pays monthly salaries in dinars to thousands of fighters and public employees, currency traders in Mosul told Reuters.

It earns profits of up to 20 percent under preferential currency rates it imposed last month that strengthen the dollar when exchanged for smaller denominations of dinars, they said.

“Daesh sells (the products) to traders in dollars, but it pays salaries in small denominations of dinars,” said an exchange bureau employee in Mosul, using an Arabic acronym to refer to Islamic State.

At the official rate set by the Iraqi government, $100 is currently valued at around 118,000 dinars.

In Mosul, the same amount costs 127,500 dinars when purchased with 25,000-dinar notes, the largest bill in circulation, according to the owner of a currency exchange bureau. The rate rise to 155,000 dinars when purchased with 250-dinar notes – the smallest bill available. Islamic State prefers the larger bills as they are easier to transport.

‘NOBODY WOULD RISK IT’

Three other currency traders confirmed those details. They all spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of being punished by Islamic State. Security restrictions in areas the group controls prevented Reuters from independently verifying their accounts.

It was not possible to determine how much money Islamic State is making by controlling the currency market. It was also unclear if these practices extended beyond Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control, to other territories in Iraq and Syria.

Parallel trading at more competitive rates is very limited, traders said, because Islamic State has threatened to confiscate the money of anyone who breaks the rules. If it happens, it is in complete secrecy.

“Nobody would risk it,” one of the traders told Reuters.

Islamic State, which is frozen out of traditional financial institutions by international sanctions, operates a cash economy and controls most means of production, including factories producing cement, flour and textiles…

 

Jihadists rustle cattle for cash

The Islamic terror group Boko Haram is selling stolen cattle through intermediaries.  The money is probably going toward paying the wages of Boko Haram fighters, buying weapons, and funding their operations.  Similar activities have been conducted by terrorists in Bangladesh.  From Vanguard (h/t to Don Okereke and El Grillo):

Boko Haram now sells stolen cattle to fund terror

…Shettima imposes civil-military management in cattle markets
…Ban sale of dry meat
… introduces stringent conditions in slaughter houses

By Ndahi Marama

Maiduguri Boko Haram insurgents have devised a new means of using “unscrupulous middlemen” to crudely sell stolen cattle at the Gamboru cattle market in Maiduguri with proceeds used to fund terror activities, Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima announced Friday. He spoke while inaugurating a new management made up of representatives of the Nigerian military, police, the Department of State Security, civilian JTF and Government officials who have been assigned to take full charge of the market and henceforth scrutinize sources of all cattle, delay slaughter of certified cattle for claims while the Government placed a ban on imports of cattle through various routes as well as sale of dry meat across the State…