•Say group gets most funds from lucrative kidnapping

•’No substantial aid from al-Qaeda and AQIM’

WASHINGTON – When Washington imposed sanctions in June 2012 on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau,he dismissed it as an empty gesture.

Two years later, Shekau’s skepticism appears well founded: his Islamic militant group is now the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer, is richer than ever, more violent and its abductions of women and children continue with impunity.

As the United States, Nigeria and others struggle to track and choke off its funding, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how the group finances its activities.

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. It also has reaped millions from high-profile kidnappings. “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.

Until now, U.S. officials have declined to discuss Boko Haram’s financing in such detail.

The United States has stepped up cooperation with Nigeria to gather intelligence on Boko Haram, whose militants are killing civilians almost daily in its northeastern Nigerian stronghold. But the lack of international financial ties to the group limit the measures the United States can use to undermine it, such as financial sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury normally relies on a range of measures to track financial transactions of terrorist groups, but Boko Haram appears to operate largely outside the banking system.

To fund its murderous network, Boko Haram uses primarily a system of couriers to move cash around inside Nigeria and across the porous borders from neighbouring African states, according to the officials interviewed by Reuters.

In designating Boko Haram as a terrorist organization last year, the Obama administration characterized the group as a violent extremist organization with links to al Qaeda.

The 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 that support is limited. 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.

Assessments differ, but one 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.



LUCRATIVE KIDNAPPING RACKET

Ransoms appear to be the main source of funding for Boko Haram’s five-year-old Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, said the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In February last year, armed men on motorcycles snatched Frenchman Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife and four children, and his brother while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in Cameroon, close to the Nigerian border.

Boko Haram was paid an equivalent of about $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators before the hostages were released, according to a confidential Nigerian government report later obtained by Reuters.

Figures vary on how much Boko Haram earns from kidnappings. Some U.S. officials estimate the group is paid as much as $1 million for the release of each abducted wealthy Nigerian.

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.

Current and 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.



LOW-COST WEAPONS

Much of Boko Haram’s military hardware is not bought, it is stolen from the

Nigerian army.

In February, dozens of its fighters descended on a remote military outpost in the

Gwoza hills in northeastern Borno state, looting 200 mortar bombs, 50

rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Such raids have left the group well armed. In dozens of attacks in the past year

Nigerian soldiers were swept aside by militants driving trucks, motor bikes and sometimes even stolen armoured vehicles, firing rocket-propelled grenades.

Boko Haram’s inner leadership is security savvy, not only in the way it moves

money but also in its communications, relying on face-to-face contact, since

messages or calls can be intercepted, the current and former U.S. officials

said.

“They’re quite sophisticated in terms of shielding all of these activities

from legitimate law enforcement officials in Africa and certainly our own

intelligence efforts trying to get glimpses and insight into what they do,” a

former U.S. military official said.

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.

Why Do Nigerian Youths always Believe dat BOKOHARAM is an opposition thing.


If it's an opposition thing the PRESIDENCY would crush it so easily jare.

People would say it's Sanusi just because he said the truth on Missing Money Nigerians now feel his Bokoharam.


Well like the Late Gen Azzazi said ,Before he was killed by the opposition I guess cos he said the truth.

Bokoharam remains a mystery for us.


All we need to do is to pray, Cos our Federal Govt run by the Devilish APC no longer value human life


Akiti Mava Jackson welcome to nairaland :


God Bless Nigeria

U dnt say

there is no doubt the huge connection between the kidnappings and oil deals in the Niger delta and the insurgency in the northeast. where are all the money accruing from the kidnapping and oil thefts going to? Why has GEJ refused to be proactive in resolving this boko haram bloodshed. he is vicious and is out to destroy this country.

Story story 2015 will tell

So the US knows it all?

then is sponsoring them...because if these guys should continue on thier carnage, It will soon affect the southern parts of the country (Olorun maje). For now, I think the best solution is for Nigeria to splits into as many parts at will fit eveyone. Because terrorism is like a cancer----------it spreads









Naija University Student Exposed Photos Of Himself Doing 2 Different Girls
>>>> http://www./entertainment/naija-university-student-exposed-photos/

America will know,now America don know!

though there's atom of truth in what the US officials have just said. however, fg of naija should take this fight against insurgency very serious. Nigerian soldiers have done it in some African countries, they can still do it again in our country. our borders should be appropriately manned and the job is more intelligence inclined. information rules the world.

America knows i will have 20 likes.

what do they know

hehehe... After #AmericaWillKnow now its #AmeticaHasKnown

US should better know what they're saying cos this inciting statement can tear nigeria into bits oh, abi na them want divide us? ok oh





mean while learn how to watch live football matches on your Android device

We yaff hear

Hmm..wonder what is going on in Abati and Okupe's minds now!

They tend to have studied our problem more than us. Really was there a country. And a confab delegate even thinks if we re-christen our country to AIREGiN, the state of the country will turn around;as insurgency will turn to tranquility,corruption will become transparency. What an irony.

.

ok

This is so surprising. There is more to it than we thinking it is only a religious battle.

America = Google

Why is it difficult for all these people to mention the real sponsors of bokoharam Na wah oo

over to you Fani-Kayode!

Now we know.

g

na wa o. see infomartion. so true. all dis yrs our naija intel unit couldn't gather such. ok o.
meanwhile, d kind thunder and lightning in enugu last nyt made me tot dat d world has come to an end. But too bad, it didn't happen.

Bleep yuuu US!!! This is how they started in Iraq, create anarchy and feed off it. Leave us to our problems, you're part of it !

Zeb abeg help me ask dem...

*Singing* "This is super story, a life of strife and sorrow...this is super story, super story, super story eehhhhhhh, this is super story."

Ok