The Blurred Line

By Nigel Inkster

Nigel Inkster has worked at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) since 2007. His current title is Director of Future Conflict and Cyber Security. His research portfolio includes transnational terrorism, insurgency, transnational organised crime, cyber security, intelligence and security and the evolving character of conflict.  Before joining IISS he served for thirty-one years in the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) retiring in 2006 as Assistant Chief and Director of Operations and Intelligence.

Terrorism and crime have always been closely linked and the dividing line between them blurred.     For terrorist groups, criminality can be an end in itself. If the aim is the overthrow of the capitalist system, robbing banks and extorting money from the business community serves the purpose of inflicting damage on that system whilst simultaneously generating funds that can finance other terrorist activities. In tsarist Russia, anarchist and communist groups both engaged in criminality, as did the Montoneros and Tupamaros in Latin America, the Japanese Red Army in Japan, and the Red Brigades and Red Army Faction in Europe throughout the 1970s.

Criminality has also become a major enabler of the jihadi terrorist threat now facing the world. This is particularly true in the developing world where the overwhelming majority of such terrorism actually occurs. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has derived significant revenue from taxing the drugs trade. In Pakistan’s tribal areas, al-Qaeda and related groups such as the Haqqani network have been able to derive revenue from their control of traditional smuggling routes. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda affiliates have thrived in areas with weak governments, such as the Sinai Peninsula, the Sahel, Northern Nigeria, and Somalia.

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