Islamic State chiefs using looted artefacts to fund their atrocities, MP warns

TERROR chiefs at Islamic State are using millions of pounds of looted artefacts to fund their atrocities, a former minister warned yesterday.

tomb of jonah, historical sites, unesco world heritage sites, religious monuments, heroin, islamic states, isis, AP

IS militants have already destroyed many historical sites such as the tomb of Jonah

The extremists are using the historic items in the same way the Taliban used heroin to finance operations, according to Conservative MP Tim Loughton.

And he added that Iraqi intelligence claims IS has collected $36 million from the sale of historic items with the extremist group controlling almost 4,500 Unesco world heritage sites.

The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham told the Commons the “devastation and profit” created by the plundering of historic sites and the sale of antiquities has barely registered in the West although buyers were “feeding insurgencies”.

He insisted such a revenue source is IS’s equivalent of the Taliban’s cultivation and sale of heroin in Afghanistan, which he noted was taken very seriously and made a priority to be tackled.

The same criteria which led to the blacklisting of blood diamonds should also be implemented for important antiquities from Syria and Iraq, he added.

Speaking during a Commons debate, Mr Loughton said the looting and trading of artefacts has major implications for how terrorism is dealt with, how the region is rebuilt and the approach to international aid.

He said: “People buying looted artefacts from Syria or Iraq are feeding insurgencies.

“They are feeding the purchase of arms, they are financing foreign extremists and mercenaries and all other sorts of criminality.

“It is estimated that looting is IS’s second largest revenue source after oil sales.

“I think the figure is nearer 4,500 archaeological sites, including Unesco world heritage sites, which are now under the control of IS.

“Iraqi intelligence claims that IS alone collected as much as 36 million (US) dollars from the sale of artefacts.

tomb of jonah, historical sites, unesco world heritage sites, religious monuments, heroin, islamic states, isis, GETTY

The Mosul Museum is now under control of IS - much to the fear of cultural heritage experts

The devastation and profit from the sale of antiquities and plundering of these sites does just not seem to register anywhere remotely nearly as clearly on the radar of the world

Tim Loughton

“It is the equivalent of what the Taliban were doing through the cultivation and sale of heroin in Afghanistan feeding markets in the West, which we take very seriously and was a priority for the invading and occupying forces in that country.

“And yet the devastation and profit from the sale of antiquities and plundering of these sites does just not seem to register anywhere remotely nearly as clearly on the radar of the world.”

Mr Loughton explained there was a “quadruple threat”.

He said these included jihadists who are claiming it is for religious reasons but are “entirely hypocritcally” profiting on international black markets from the destruction.

Syrian president Bashar Assad is alleged to be selling antiquities to “pay his henchmen”, Mr Loughton said as he added the Free Syrian Army are also looting to generate funds.

He went on: “We have an increasingly part of the population involved in looting, ordinary people looting Syria’s cultural heritage because they have no jobs, no income or tangible economic prospects and increasingly they are turning to age-old plunder techniques - and in some cases looting to order.

“From all those four different parties, the fantastic culture of Syria and Iraq is being systematically plundered and yet it is hardly featuring on the radar in the West and we’re having to face the consequences of the financing of these terrorist organisations through the plunder of antiquities.”

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