A raid by Iraqi militants on Mosul's central bank and other smaller banks as they overran Nineveh province earlier this month likely did not provide the group with hundreds of millions of dollars, a senior intelligence official told NBC News on Tuesday.
Two weeks ago, Mosul mayor and Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi had claimed that terrorists with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) had stolen as much as $400 million from the Bank of Mosul and numerous provincial banks, as well as large quantities of gold bullion.
The Mosul heists did provide them with funds "to the tune of millions of dollars," said the official, but not "hundreds of millions."
ISIS gets some money from foreign donors, but it "pales to what they get from extortion, robbery, kidnapping," said the official.
"They require drivers to pay 'road taxes' in territories it controls," said the official, who estimated that the group takes in several million dollars a month.
In-depth
Iraq's Biggest Enemy? Corruption, Says Army Commander
More Details on Warnings Kurds Gave U.S. About ISIS
