From: Al Monitor | Iraq Pulse
Islamic State turns to cigarette smuggling to fund itself
Fazel Hawramy
ERBIL, Iraq — Thousands of Mosul residents flee the city every day as the Iraqi army pushes farther into the city from the east. But despite suicide car bombs, airstrikes and the whizzing sound of bullets around them, when they emerge, one of the first things they ask for from the soldiers are cigarettes. For almost 2½ years, the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul projected an image that it was against the consumption of narcotics; in reality, however, it has reaped enormous funds from the trade.
***
“The cigarettes came from Syria, and Daesh sanctioned it unofficially,” said Safwan, estimating the number of wholesalers at 500 in the city, plus many more petty traders. “Daesh made an agreement with oil truck drivers and allowed them to smuggle 50 cartons in a compartment inside the truck in return for intelligence about the petty and main sellers.”
