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US Officials Suspect Islamic State Could Fund Itself with Drug Profits
By Valentina Pasquali and Colby Adams
printRecent military setbacks have diminished the Islamic State's control over local populations, natural resources and cultural antiquities in Iraq and Syria, raising the possibility that the group may turn to drug trafficking and other criminal schemes to generate revenue, say sources. Islamic State was deriving nearly $242 million a month from pumping and selling oil, taxing and extorting local individuals and businesses, trafficking archaeological goods and conducting other illicit operations inside the roughly 80,000 square miles of Iraq and Syria under its control by late-2014, when the U.S.-led air campaign against the rebel group commenced, according to the Center for...
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