US Treasury asks how Toyota trucks fall in ISIL hands

Islamic State The USA government and Toyota aren’t sure how ISIS acquired the fleet of trucks featured in its propaganda videos.

The company says it has a “strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities,” Lewis said. The Iraqi Ambassador to the United States says that over the past few years, ISIS has somehow gotten its hands on “hundreds” of “brand new” models, though Toyota says numerous vehicles in question are not recent models.

“We informed Treasury on our vehicle supply chains in the Middle East and the process that Toyota has in place to keep supply chain integrity”, said Lewis, Toyota’s Washington-based manager of public policy and communications.

Lewis said its impossible for any automaker to completely control how vehicles could be misappropriated, stolen or resold by independent third parties. Hyundais, Mitsubishis, and Isuzus are also depicted, though to a lesser extent.

The vehicles shown in the ISIS videos are older Toyota models, according to ABC.

While we all know Toyota makes very good trucks, we think it’s kind of ridiculous how the USA officials regard cutting access to new Toyotas for ISIS as a means of fighting the organization.

Toyota Hilux pickups and Toyota Land Cruisers have been common in ISIS campaign videos in Libya, Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi military spokesman told ABC News he thinks trucks are being smuggled into Iraq by outside middlemen, and Toyota distributors in the region said they are unsure how the trucks are getting to ISIS.

While Toyota likely never “intentionally profited” from the terrorists, they are now aware of the problem and should do more to halt ISIS’ acquisitions, Wallace said.

The former owners, a Saudi company called Abdul Latif Jameel, said it “made the decision to cease all trading activities in the country and fully divested the business in October, 2012”, according to a spokesperson.

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“In line with our usual approach to understanding ISIL’s financial and economic activities, we are working closely with foreign counterparts and stakeholders worldwide”, the Treasury Department said in a statement.