Al Qaeda turns to kidnapping to raise funds

Pressured by increased scrutiny of terrorist money sources and strikes aimed at its financiers, al-Qaeda's core organisation in Pakistan has turned to kidnapping for ransom
to offset dwindling cash reserves, according to US officials and information in files retrieved from Osama bin Laden's  Abbottabad compound. Bin Laden's interest in kidnapping as a cash-raiser bolsters accounts that the financial squeeze has staggered al-Qaeda, forcing it to search for alternative funding sources. Officials would not detail al-Qaeda's role in specific crimes, but the group's affiliates have targeted diplomats, tourists and merchants.




His awareness of al-Qaeda's growing use of kidnapping is evidence that even in isolation behind high walls in Abbottabad, Pakistan, bin Laden kept tabs on how his network moved its money. "There are clearly times for them when money is tight," said Rep CA Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "We've seen that their donors have been less dependable and we're seeing them turning more to kidnapping as a way of keeping the money coming in."

Experts from the CIA's National Counterterrorism Center, the Treasury Department and the FBI and military are trying to learn more from the recovered files about al-Qaeda's money sources and the impact of bin Laden's death on the group's financial future. The Treasury Department's acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, said US efforts are focused on disrupting al-Qaeda's cash flow from donors, fundraisers and facilitators. "Al-Qaeda's supporters ought to be wondering if their identities have been revealed," Cohen said.

Why cash-strappedAl-Qaeda's leadership inside Pakistan rarely championed kidnappings publicly and was not known previously to widely support its use as a funding source. The group historically relied on donations through a pipeline of couriers and money-changing operations. At the time of the September 11 attacks, the network took in as much as $30 million annually, but that money flow has tightened, Ruppersberger said.

CIA drone attacks, combined with economic penalties by the US and its allies, have cut into that stream. At the same time, al-Qaeda affiliates have shown that abductions could rake in millions of dollars. As a result, attitudes about ransom operations inside the core group changed. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the offshoot in North Africa, long has used kidnapping as a terrorist tool and a major funding source. Canadian diplomats, Italian tourists and Algerian merchants have been abducted; some ransoms have approached $2 million per hostage. The ransoms have totalled more than $80 million for this branch since 2008. The terrorist group's affiliate in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, and its affiliates in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have used kidnapping for ransom, too.

2 million is how high the ransom demands go for a hostage

Eye for an eye
Bin Laden justified the use of kidnapping in an audio message sent last October, but solely as an instrument of vengeance. He said the abduction of five French nationals by the North African affiliate was a reaction to that country's ban on Muslim veils and support for the war in Afghanistan. "It is a simple and clear equation," bin Laden said. "As you kill, you will be killed. As you capture, you will be captured."