50 / 404
50
2017 Yearbook
estimate that such illicit trade generated €30K-€50,000 throughout a period of approximately four years for
him, allowing him to travel to Oman and Yemen to the Al Qaeda organization on the Arabian Peninsula and
we know that such funds have also been used to purchase weapons for the attack of January 2015”.
The money they generated from such petty offenses was enough to finance their activities, they did not
need other financial resources. And this is by no means a single case. “If we are analyzing the attacks and
the attempted attacks throughout the past few years in Europe, then we have to state that the attackers
financed themselves in a self-sustainable manner, i.e. through smuggling products and/or the trade with
counterfeit goods.”
In the French museum for counterfeits: There is no product, which has not been faked. Fakes representing
a commercial value of €85 billion are sold in the European Union per annum -- and the terrorists financially
benefit from such trade.
This conclusion is supported by the French Association of the Manufacturers of Branded Products, UNIFAB.
Philippe Coen, VP of UNIFAB points out: “It is absolutely necessary that after these terrible years of terrorism
in Europe we need to take a close look at the
financing of terrorist activities. Without having
money, no attacks can be committed. UNIFAB
has found out after some investigations and
researches, that product piracy is the key source
for terrorists.”