The auto maker’s trucks, particularly Toyota Hilux pickups and Toyota Land Cruisers, have appeared in the terror group’s propaganda videos in Iraq, Syria and Libya, loaded with heavy weapons and packed full with terrorists.
Advertisement
Lukman Faily, the Iraqi ambassador to the USA, told ABC News that in addition to re-purposing older trucks, his government believes ISIS has acquired “hundreds” of “brand new” Toyotas in recent years.
United States counterterrorism officials have launched an inquiry to determine how the Daesh (ISIL) terror network is in possession of a large number of Toyota vehicles seen prominently in its propaganda videos in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
Ed Lewis, Toyota’s director of public policy and communications who resides in Washington said, “We briefed Treasury on Toyota’s supply chains in the Middle East and the procedures that Toyota has in place to protect supply chain integrity”.
“It is impossible for any automaker to control indirect or illegal channels through which our vehicles could be misappropriated, stolen or re-sold by independent third parties”, Toyota said in a statement.
Vehicles shown include the Hilux and the Land Cruiser.
ISIS videos have also shown small numbers of other brands including Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu.
Any efforts to trace how the Toyota vehicles end up in the hands of ISIS have proven hard to Iraq and USA officials.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Australia reported in August that more than 800 Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks have been reported missing in Sydney between 2014 and 2015, and quoted terror experts who suggested the vehicles may have been exported to territory controlled by ISIS. A report previous year by Public Radio global exposed a delivery by the US State Department of 43 Toyota trucks to Syrian rebels – the “moderate” ones, as has been the Western line since the start of the Syrian war in 2011.
As ABC News reports, former American diplomat Mark Wallace thinks ISIS supporters buy the trucks from Toyota dealerships and then hand them over to ISIS militants.
Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break!
Advertisement
The Treasury Department would not comment about which companies it has sought information from but said there is an ongoing efforts to understand ISIS financing.
