Reuters
A UN terrorist-monitoring expert said ISIS has taken in as much as $45 million in ransom payments so far this year alone. Yotsna Lalji told the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee that ISIS is one of many terrorist groups whose kidnapping for ransom “continues to grow.” Between 2004 and 2012, terrorist groups collected $120 million from kidnapping ransoms. It’s “the core al Qaeda tactic for generating revenue,” said Lalji. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has made $75 million through ransoms over the past four years and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula made $20 million from 2011 through 2013, according to Lalji’s report. Some countries have a policy of refusing to pay terrorist ransoms, including the U.S., which has lost three citizens to ISIS abductions and murders so far this year.