Toyota's sneaky path to IS 0
IS rebels used Toyota vehicles to march through the streets of Raqqa, Syria, last June.
Recently surfaced Islamic State (IS) propaganda videos show rebel groups patrolling the streets of Syria in Toyota Hilux pickup trucks, both old and new, and many convoys of Toyota Land vehicles.
According to Mr. Mark Wallace, former US ambassador to the United Nations, currently executive director of the Counter Extremism Project, `Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have almost become part of the IS name.`
CNN reported on October 7 that the US Treasury Department had just asked Toyota to provide information about its business activities in the Middle East as well as its international supply chain and cash flow in this region to try to explain the cause.
The path is not too difficult
AFP said that Toyota pickup trucks, as well as those of Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu, are very popular with rebels, armed groups and insurgents because of their reasonable cost, good adaptability and high durability.
Toyota cars, with high adaptability to desert terrain, were widely used by US special forces when participating in the battle in Iraq.
Analysts believe that IS has appropriated American cars from the above sources during its expansion in Iraq and Syria.
In addition, IS’s oil and antiquities smuggling activities are still very prosperous, bringing the organization huge profits, up to millions of dollars every day.
According to Ed Lewis, Toyota’s director of public policy and communications in Washington, the company `has procedures in place to ensure its products are not illegally converted for military use,` but he also emphasized
According to sales data from Toyota, the number of Hilux and Land Cruiser cars sold in Iraq increased from 6,000 units in 2011 to 18,000 units in 2013, then decreased to 13,000 units the following year.
Some reports say that since last year, more than 800 Toyota vehicles have gone missing in Sydney, Australia.
Mr. Saad Maan, brigadier general of the Iraqi army, suspects that outside intermediary forces smuggled these vehicles into Iraq.
Suspicion of IS using Toyota vehicles has been around for several years.
According to CS Monitor, in general, shipping a car from the US to other countries is not a very difficult process.
Typically, the incident that happened last year, a plumber’s car in Texas made American public opinion excited when it appeared in an IS propaganda video in Syria.
Observers at that time said that it took many exchanges for the car to travel from South America to the Middle East.
The car would be delivered to a dealer in the Middle East in just a few days using a cargo ship, and the next buyer would likely be the one who resells the car to IS fighters, Collins said.
`I don’t know if ISIS has people in the car buying and selling market. I don’t know anything about them. But clearly the seller in the US has the ability to ship the car to Syria so that people here can mount weapons on it. This
