TERRORISM: HOW BOKO HARAM MOVES CASH AROUND NIGERIA

Following the unabated terror attacks being perpetrated by the Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, across Nigeria, Reuters has published a
report that explains how Boko Haram insurgents move cash around Nigeria. 

According to the report, when the US imposed sanctions on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in June 2012, the terrorists leader dismissed it as an empty gesture.

It was gathered that two years later, Shekau’s skepticism appears well founded as the militant group is now the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria. The report stated that Boko Haram is now richer than ever, more violent and its  abductions of women and children continue with impunity.

According to investigation carried out by Reuters, more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how Boko Haram finances its activities. Just as the United States, Nigeria and others in the international communities struggle to track and choke off its funding,

It was gathered that central to the militant group’s approach includes using hard-to-track human couriers to move cash, relying on local funding sources and engaging in only limited financial relationships with other extremists groups. The terrorists group is also said to have reaped millions from high-profile kidnappings.

* Scene of bomb blast in Abuja

“Our suspicions are that they are surviving on very lucrative criminal activities that involve kidnappings,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview. The report informed that for the terrorists organisation to fund its murderous

network, they use primarily a system of couriers to move cash around inside Nigeria and across the porous borders from neighboring African states. US President, Barack Obama had characterized the Boko Haram sect as a violent extremist organization with links to al Qaeda.

And the US Treasury Department said in a statement to Reuters that the United States has seen evidence that Boko Haram has received financial support from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), an offshoot of the jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden.

But officials with deep knowledge of Boko Haram’s finances say that any links with al Qaeda or its affiliates are inconsequential to Boko Haram’s overall funding. “Any financial support AQIM might still be providing Boko Haram would pale in comparison to the resources it gets from criminal activities,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. estimate of financial transfers from AQIM was in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. That compares with the millions of dollars that Boko Haram is estimated to make through its kidnap and ransom operations in Nigeria and across its border.

It is widely assumed in Nigeria that Boko Haram receives support from religious sympathizers inside the country, including some wealthy professionals and northern Nigerians who dislike the government, although little evidence has been made public to support that assertion.

A former U.S. and Nigerian officials say Boko Haram’s operations do not require significant amounts of money, which means even successful operations tracking and intercepting their funds are unlikely to disrupt their campaign.

* Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, middle, and other members.

Much of Boko Haram’s military hardware is not bought, it is stolen from the Nigerian army through raids which have left Boko Haram well armed. U.S. officials acknowledge that the weapons that have served Washington so well in its financial warfare against other terrorist groups are proving less effective against Boko Haram.

“My sense is that we have applied the tools that we do have but that they are not particularly well tailored to the way that Boko Haram is financing itself,” a U.S. defense official said. On Tuesday, 1 July, 2014, the terrorists group bombed a Monday market in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

Reports stated that scores of people were killed in the terror attack while many more were injured. The United Nations, UN, had already blacklisted Boko Haram and its leader, after it found that more than 4,000 people have been killed since 2009 due to Boko