From: Before Its News
Mr. Marlboro Strikes Again
By Edward R. Myers (Source – FrontLine Security)
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Illicit Cigarettes – Fuelling Jihadist Objectives
As the clampdown on financial systems by organizations like Canada’ FINTRAC come online, the jihadists look to alternative, less risky models to fund their expensive operations. One of the most prevalent systems for money laundering is to look for commonly desired goods as the vehicle for transfer. This often takes the form of a Hawala network where goods are bought by the launderer then sold and shipped to the recipient at far below market cost for re-sale at the higher market rate thereby creating larger profits and associated wealth transfer.
Since the early successes of terrorists such as Belmoktar’s kidnapping of Canadian diplomat, Robert Fowler in 2009, illegal tobacco has become the target commodity used to raise large sums of money. Two things specifically make illegal cigarettes attractive to terrorists. First, in any country, approximately twenty percent of the population are smokers so the product itself is seen as relatively benign. Second, governments like to think that cigarettes can be taxed at very high levels so the disparity between production costs and retail price becomes a target pricing formula for smugglers.
