Islamic State jihadis making millions by playing the Stock Market under bankers noses

The Islamic State is raking in millions of dollars for its war chest by playing foreign currency markets from under bankers’ noses.

Baghdad : The savage terror group is earning up to a massive £14 million ($20 million) a month by transferring cash – stolen from banks during its takeover of the Iraqi city of Mosul – into Middle Eastern currency markets.

It then profits from huge returns on currency speculation before wiring them back through oblivious financial authorities in Iraq and Jordan, a UK parliamentary committee has been told.

The money-making venture has become a major source of income for the depraved death cult, also known as Daesh, along with oil smuggling and extorting people who live in areas controlled by ISIS.

Details emerged during a hearing of a specially-convened Foreign Affairs sub-committee set up to examine Britain’s role in funding ISIS.

The hearing was told ISIS finance bosses play the international stock markets with cash looted during the 2014 take over of the Iraqi – in which the twisted terror cell prized around £304 million ($429 million) from Mosul’s central bank.

Jihadis also used cash “siphoned off” from pension payments still paid to civil servants by the Iraqi government.

John Baron, the sub-committee’s chair, said: “The cash that [ISIS] has looted, along with siphoned off pension payments, is routed into Jordanian banks and brought back into the system via Baghdad.

The savage cult is using looted cash to play foreign stock markets

“That allows the system to be exploited by [ISIS], in that they take a turn (profit) on the foreign currency actions and siphon that cash back.”

The profits were channelled back into ISIS accounts by “hawala” transfers – an unregulated system of money transfer where cash payments are made via agents in one country after a similar amount is presented as collateral in another.

Junior Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said work is currently underway to shut the system down, but he admitted it should have been done sooner.

He said: “Iraq could have moved faster on this.”

”Jordan plays an important role in the (anti-ISIS) coalition.

“Work is being done to close it down, I don’t think there is anything near as much from that source of revenue as before.”