|
Al-Qaida Groups Reap $100 Million in Ransoms
[An Nahar] The U.N. Security Council on Monday demanded that countries not pay terrorist ransoms which the British backers of the move said have reaped al-Qaeda and its allies more than $100 million.A resolution passed unanimously by the 15 member council calls on U.N. members "to prevent hard boyz from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments or from political concessions and to secure the safe release of hostages." The resolution does not impose any punishments and is based on a statement agreed by the Group of Eight powers at a summit last year but has been several months in preparation at the U.N. Several governments are suspected of having paid ransoms to Death Eater groups in recent years. Kidnap for ransom "has become the most significant terrorist financing challenge and remains a terrible threat to the nationals of all countries," said Britannia's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant. "While numbers vary, we estimate that in the last three and a half years, al-Qaeda-affiliated and other Islamist krazed killer groups have collected at least $105 million," he told news hounds after the vote. Posted by: Fred 2014-01-28 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=384480 |