The United Nations estimates that, from 2011 through 2015, over 220,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war.[1] As of June 2016, there were over 57,000 refugees from Syria living in Greece.[2]

The current exodus into Europe is the largest migration since World War II, fueled by a trafficking business operated by criminal gangs that generates over 1 billion euros per year in revenue. Outside the EU territory, small criminal and criminal-jihadist groups, often bankrolled with capital they earned from kidnapping, supply their European counterparts with refugees. Once in Europe, these European traffickers charge thousands of dollars for rides in crowded vans and thousands for being housed in large numbers in camps or caves without adequate facilities.[3]

ISIS makes a business out of human misery. Since its oil smuggling business has been curtailed by Turkey and Russia, it has relied more on its human trafficking business for more revenue. This includes sex trafficking[4], trafficking of body organs of living people[5], slave labor[6] and, in the case of refugees, some reports indicate it has wiped out whole towns of people to profit from their displacement, with figures, as of May 2015, put at $323 million.[7] An estimated 8 million refugees crossed into Europe in 2015[8], and they are still coming, despite efforts to curtail smuggling.[9]

ISIS is also smuggling, among the refugees, its own fighters to Europe, as part of their jihad against the infidels.[10]

ISIS needs money to finance its terrorism operations, house operatives, wage its guerrilla wars against the governments within the territories in which it operates, and provide social services to the residents of its conquered territories. Smuggling and human trafficking provide lucrative financial opportunities for the finance of such operations.[11] Terrorists smuggle drugs, arms and people.”[12]

ISIS reportedly has driven Syrians and Iraqis from their homes in a deliberate attempt to increase their control over smuggling routes, and to drive up the numbers of those trying to cross the Mediterranean.[13]

While the Syrian border to Turkey and Bab al Salam was controlled by ISIS, trafficking into Turkey was rampant, and cheaper for the refugees, who were forced to pay only one tax at the border to the Islamic State, instead of paying several times as they cross territories controlled by different armed groups, criminal gangs or Syrian troops. In 2015, these taxes to ISIS made up approximately $500,000 per day in revenue.[14] Whereas before, migrants were generally poor and uneducated, today’s refugees come from all walks of life, including the middle class, and traffickers have adapted their fees according to their ability to pay.[15]

Most people in the western world do not realize that the war on terror is the root cause to failed states in the Middle East and this exodus of refugees. The United States allows Europe to bear the brunt of the huge influx of refugees while continuing policies of “regime change” which only make more opportunity for jihadism to flourish and grow. This has been exacerbated by a tribal backlash from the west, where racists and xenophobes have risen to political power on platforms of isolationism and protectionism. As long as this trend continues, we are likely to see even more refugees moving out of the Middle East and North Africa, all to the benefit of the jihad movement.[16]

Kenneth Eade is the bestselling author of the Paladine Political Thriller Series, whose protagonist is a hired assassin whose targets are jihadist terrorists. The fourth installment of the series, “Unwanted” focuses on the refugee trade and is due to be released on June 30, 2017.

[1] Warren, Rosalyn, Here is the Route Many Refugees Take to Travel from Syria to Germany, Buzzfeed, September 14, 2015

[2] Harris, Mary, How Many Refugees are in Greece, Greek

Reporter, June 14, 2016

[3] Napoleoni, Loretta, Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking Into a Multibillion-Dollar Business

[4] Shelley, Louise, ISIS, Boko Haram and the Growing Role of Human Trafficking in 21st Century Terrorism, The Daily Beast, December 26, 2014

[5] Fars News Agency, ISIS Trafficking Organs of Living People, March 1, 2016.

[6] Hankel, Jenni, ISIS: One of the Many Contributions to Trafficking in Iraq and Syria, Human Trafficking Center Blog

[7] Walt, Vivian, ISIS Makes Fortune From Smuggling Migrants, Says Report, Time, May 13, 2015

[8] Kidnapping, Drug and Refugee Trafficking Behind the Financing of ISIS, Pereis, Sharmani, The Real News Network, December 20, 2016

[9] Walt, Vivian, ISIS Makes Fortune From Smuggling Migrants, Says Report, Time, May 13, 2015

[10] Boyle, Darren, Turkish Police foil ISIS strike on Izmir holiday resort as 400 suspects, including Syrian in contact with people smuggling gangs, are arrested in nationwide dawn raids, Mail Online, February 5, 2017

[11] Walt, Vivian, ISIS Makes Fortune From Smuggling Migrants, Says Report, Time, May 13, 2015

[12] Shelley, Louise, ISIS, Boko Haram and the Growing Role of Human Trafficking in 21st Century Terrorism, The Daily Beast, December 26, 2014

[13] Walt, Vivian, ISIS Makes Fortune From Smuggling Migrants, Says Report, Time, May 13, 2015

[14] Napoleoni, Loretta, Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking Into a Multibillion-Dollar Business

[15] Napoleoni, Loretta, Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking Into a Multibillion-Dollar Business

[16] Napoleoni, Loretta, Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking Into a Multibillion-Dollar Business