Syria: worm turns as IS jihadis become a black market prize
People smugglers and rebel factions cash in on trafficking trade as Islamic State loses territory
IN the murky world of Syria’s war economy, Islamic State has been one of the main drivers of human trafficking during nearly six years of civil war. First, it was the biggest buyer. Now, its fighters are a top commodity.
IS militants have become one of the most lucrative targets for smugglers, including factions armed by foreign powers such as the US and Turkey.
“Every faction trades in IS fighters. Don’t believe anyone who says they don’t,” said Abu Yazan, who, like most rebels interviewed, did not use his real name. A fighter in northern Syria for the Jabha Shamiya rebel group that has been supported by Ankara and Washington, he has shuttled IS militants from the group’s territory to rebel areas.
At the height of its power in 2013 and 2014, IS was the jihadi group that dominated the trafficking trade. Criminals and some factions sold hostages — particularly journalists and aid workers — to the militants. IS is believed to have secured millions of dollars in ransom for European hostages and slaughtered others in chilling videos that gave it worldwide notoriety.
But as IS loses territory to international and local forces across its remaining footholds in Iraq and Syria, its militants have become a black market prize.
Captured or defecting IS fighters can generate profit in several ways. The most common is for a defector to pay a combination of rebels and smugglers to arrange their escape from IS territory.
The most lucrative opportunity is to capture a foreign IS fighter whose government wants him back and is willing to pay for the militant. Rebels say Gulf states are often the keenest, sometimes paying millions of dollars.
One name commonly raised in such trades is Abu Ali Sejju, a leader in Jabha Shamiya, who rebels say has made millions from his control of the Bab alSalama border crossing between Syria and Turkey.
He says he has returned Saudi militants to Riyadh via Turkish officials for free. Other rebel leaders, however, insist he recharge ceived large sums.
At a popular restaurant in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, he puffs on a water pipe and flips through several iPhones to pull up files he has prepared on some 100 IS fighters he holds captive.
“I have guys from Pakistan, from Ukraine . . . we had a French woman,” he said.
Sejju insists he offers to return foreign captives to their governments but never takes money.
“The truth is that usually these governments don’t want them. I’ll tell them I have a certain group of people and they’ll say they only want this guy and that guy.”
Most rebels say smugglers from a few thousand dollars to $10 000 (about R135 0000) just to cross from an IS area to rebel territory. It can cost another $10 000 or more to enter Turkey, they say.
“It used to be only the smugglers doing it, but the rebels saw what was going on and thought: ‘Why shouldn’t we benefit? We’re the ones who control this territory.’ So it has become a competition,” said Yazan.
Another rebel figure who has been involved in such trades said: “The countries inform Turkey, which will pick up the person from the faction. There are countries that pay money for it. What you can make [on a foreign fighter] always depends, but usually at least $50 000.”
Sejju claims he was offered big money for two Emirati prisoners with US citizenship.
“They wanted to pay me $10million. I refused . . . It was through brokers and I didn’t want to mess with that. I finally turned them over to the Emiratis — for no money — because they were sent directly to the country,” he said.
Other rebels say he held out for a higher price, or kept the prisoners longer at another country’s bidding.
Trading IS prisoners is not always about money. It can also be about political leverage and strategic gain — an even murkier realm of the IS hostage trade.
“You can keep a prisoner for information,” said another Syrian opposition figure in Turkey. “That way you show a foreign intelligence agency you have information, that you’re valuable to them.”
In addition to these trades, near-daily exchanges take place BLACK MARKET: Islamic State fighters stand on confiscated cigarettes before setting them on fire in the city of Raqqa. Defecting fighters are paying a combination of rebels and people smugglers to arrange their escape to other jihadi groups linked to al-Qaeda
It used to be only smugglers, but the rebels saw what was going on
between rebels, says a fighter from the Ahrar al-Sharqiya rebel group, which is part of the offensive to recapture the ISheld town of al-Bab. He describes a recent case where one of his comrades was captured by the jihadis and the rebels got him back through a complex prisoner exchange. IS wanted a prisoner held by another rebel faction, which at first demanded Ahrar fighters give them a better hostage in return.
“We eventually paid money for their prisoner. Bought him straight up,” he said. “Everyone sells.”
Rebels say more than half of the IS defectors seek to go to Syria’s Idlib province to join other jihadi groups that have links to al-Qaeda, suggesting they have not given up their extremist ideology.
Many rebel commanders and powerful smugglers keep a distance between themselves and the trades. This is how foot soldiers on the front lines such as Yazan in northern Syria end up involved in the transactions.
He recently took a central Asian family of defectors from the last IS checkpoint in his area to a vehicle belonging to a rebel group. The rebel commander and lead smuggler received about $12 000 between them, he said.
“I walked that family 1km and put them in a car . . . It is barely any distance at all — a farce,” he said.
“That is what makes you realise this is something wrong. This is not normal. They didn’t want to put themselves in the picture.” — © 2017 The Financial Times Limited