Travel, gift cards loaded up to fund terrorism

AUSTRALIAN Islamic militants are using travel and retail gift cards to fund terrorist acts in Middle Eastern war zones.

The stored- value cards can be loaded with up to $ 100,000 cash at a time in Australia and then redeemed overseas.

A report being released today by the federal intelli- gence agency AUSTRAC will warn of the growing use of stored- value cards by terrorists and organised crime gangs.

AUSTRAC recently identified 12 cases of stored- value card use it believes relate to terrorism financing.

They involve more than $ 170,000 being loaded on to cards in Australia and then redeemed in countries bordering war- torn Syria, including Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, with evidence of a further 66 suspicious transactions.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan said there were about 10 million active stored- value cards in Australia worth more than $ 1.5 billion.

The AUSTRAC report reveals users of stored- value cards redeemed $ 2.2 billion in foreign countries in the months to August 31, 2016.

“In Australia, foreign fighters have used stored- value cards to fund their terrorist activity before and after departure to the conflict zone,” Mr Keenan said. “Internationally, we have seen stored- value cards used to fund terror attacks, including the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015.”