Turkey daily accuses authorities of smuggling jihadis to Syria

June 5, 2015 By administrator

A Turkish daily Friday published images it said showed the Turkish spy agency helping to smuggle jihadis into Syria, the latest allegations by the newspaper accusing the authorities of aiding extremist groups across the border, AFP reports.

The government had last week lambasted the Cumhuriyet daily for publishing video footage the paper said showed the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) helping send weapons to Syria early last year.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said its editor Can Dundar would pay a “heavy price” and promptly filed a criminal complaint demanding he serves multiple life sentences.

But Friday’s story showed the staunchly secular Cumhuriyet is not giving any ground in an increasingly tense standoff with the Islamic-rooted government ahead of Sunday’s legislative elections.

Cumhuriyet said that a group of jihadis were first brought to the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on January 9, 2014 from Atme refugee camp in Syria in a clandestine operation.

From there, they were smuggled into Tal Abyad, a border town used by ISIS as a gateway from Turkey, on two buses rented by the MIT, Cumhuriyet claimed.

Source: Panorama.am

Turkey’s spy agency involved in smuggling ISIS stolen cars to Syria

April 12, 2015 By administrator

ISIS pickup trucks from Turkey

The Milliyet report stated that around 1,800 vehicles that had been stolen in Turkey since 2013 were shipped to Syria. Many of the vehicles were pickup trucks and panel vans that were used by al-Qaeda, ISIL and their affiliates to mount machine guns for use in battle.(Photo: Today’s Zaman)

The testimony given by members of the gendarmerie who in early 2014 intercepted Syria-bound trucks that were carrying arms to radical groups has revealed the involvement of intelligence operatives in illegally moving stolen vehicles into Syria to be used by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

A gendarmerie officer identified as H.G., who is working in the intelligence branch of the Gendarmerie Ankara Provincial Command, testified during an arraignment hearing last week that they had identified members of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) as being involved in the trafficking of stolen vehicles bound for Syria during their investigation in 2013.

He said that as part of the gendarmerie intelligence unit they had investigated stolen vehicles in late 2013 and discovered that cars were stolen in İstanbul and then transported to Syria in groups of three to five vehicles with an escort car that had a police license plate. “As a result of the investigation, some 20 people were arrested. Three of these suspects were found to have ties to al-Qaeda,” the officer told the court, adding that when they expanded the scope of their investigation they determined that a suspect named A.D. had dealings with members of MİT.

The officer said the gendarmerie notified MİT about the investigation and the involvement of some MİT intelligence officers in two separate letters. After the first notification was sent, he was surprised to learn that details of the investigation had been leaked to the Milliyet daily, which reported that MİT had secured the detention of the suspects in the stolen car ring.

The report claimed that ISIL was operating with a network of thieves who stole the vehicles in İstanbul based on their model and brand name as directed by ISIL.

This news report was corroborated by a January report compiled by law enforcement agencies, which noted that about 2,000 vehicles that have been stolen in Turkey over the last two years were sent to Syria.

Considering that car bomb attacks are often staged with stolen vehicles, the smuggling network poses a threat to Turkey as well.

The deadliest terrorist attack in Turkey’s history took place in the Reyhanlı district in the southern province of Hatay on the border with Syria in 2013, claiming 50 lives.

Turkey also experienced four car bomb attacks in İstanbul in 2003 that left more than 50 people dead and hundreds wounded. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Source: ZAMAN

Erbil: $1 Million a day smuggling trade between Kurdistan officials and ISIS A committee investigating

January 21, 2015 By administrator

A masked gunman guards an ISIS checkpoint in Iraq. AP file photo.

by Saeed Sahen Mufti

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A committee investigating Kurdish officials smuggling cars, food and fuel across territories held by the Islamic State (ISIS) said that the illegal trade amounted to $1 million a day. Report Rudaw.

According to a final report by the committee on the smuggling, a number of officials from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Peshmerga have been involved in the illegal trade.

Firsat Sofi, a KDP member of the Kurdish parliament said the identities of people arrested for involvement in the smuggling had not been disclosed by the committee.

“We asked about the identity of those detainees. Some of them were tanker drivers, senior political members and merchants. Even if we knew the names we would not reveal them since that would be illegal, since the judiciary must deal with this issue and we will see the verdicts soon.”

Fakhraddin Qadir, another Kurdish MP who is from the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) said: “We believe that any kind of relationship with ISIS is treachery, and we will hold a meeting in the parliament concerning the smuggling cases if we are asked.”

The investigative committee includes the KRG’s interior minister and natural resources minister.

KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has warned that anyone caught smuggling with ISIS would be punished.

“Anyone caught smuggling with ISIS should be considered a traitor and the government must punish them,” he has said.

The autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq sits on a border with ISIS that is more than 1,000 kilometers long. The insurgent group blazed across Iraq’s mainly Sunni territories in June, capturing a third of the country.

According to US-based Foreign Policy magazine, ISIS has become the world’s richest terrorist group through oil smuggling, theft, human trafficking and hostage-taking.

Intelligence officials and private experts say the group has become a self sustaining financial force and is said to be earning more than $3 million from these activities.

Daesh (ISIS) smuggling oil via Turkey, Iraq says

December 13, 2014 By administrator

Baghdad: Iraqi finance minister Hoshyar Zebari has said that the Daesh (ISIS) is smuggling Iraqi and Syrian oil via Turkey, and called it the richest terrorist group in the world.

“Daesh controls a number of oilfields in Syria and Iraq and they smuggle this oil overland through trucks, through middlemen to Turkey or towards other countries,” Zebari told Al Jazeera news channel Friday.

After an accounting of banks under Daesh control, Zebari said that Daesh is now believed to have looted about $500 million from Mosul, Tikrit and other cities, saying it was “the richest armed group in the world”.

He said Iraq was trying to crack down on Daesh financing, including oil smuggling.

“The air campaign targets these facilities in Syria and in northern Iraq in order to deprive them of this revenue but they have enormous financial resources; they are paying recruits good salaries, better than what we can afford to pay ours,” he added.

“And this is one element of the strength of this organisation. It’s not purely an underground terrorist organisation. It has an agenda it wants to control. It wants to rule.”

He also rejected comments by US officials that the fight against the Daesh could take years.

“Contrary to what many people think, I don’t think this will be a long drawn out battle,” the minister said.

The comments came after the Iraqi army managed to liberate two key districts in the city of Samarra on Friday.

He added that coordination between Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition is the key to the success of the offensive against the radical group.