Who's financing Boko Haram?

It will be quite difficult to effectively combat the Nigerian terrorist organization without understanding its cash flow

A wanted poster
(Image credit: (Tim Cocks/Reuters/Corbis))

Boko Haram's tactics are so brutal and senseless that even al Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist organizations think the group goes too far. But large operations to kidnap more than 200 schoolgirls and wantonly massacre hundreds of unarmed villagers take more than skewed morals and careful planning — they also take money, in this case truly filthy lucre. And Boko Haram has ample cash in a part of Nigeria and West Africa where money is scarce. Where do they get it?

"Analysts say the actual source of the funding is as elusive as the militants themselves," says Heather Murdock at VOA News. But Boko Haram is clearly getting richer. Its weapons have shifted from relatively cheap AK-47s in the early days of its post-2009 embrace of violence to desert-ready combat vehicles and anti-aircraft/anti-tank guns. Here's a look at what we know, and what we suspect, about the organization's financial support:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.