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Denmark training Iraqi officials to curb flow of IS funds

Christian Wenande
September 23rd, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Halting money equally as important as weapons

No more money, fighters nor weapons (photo: Flickr-Day Donaldson)

Denmark will be part of an initiative aimed at providing Iraqi officials with the necessary competencies to curtail the flow of finances to the jihadist organisation Islamic State (IS).

The Danes are co-leading an international coalition group in Lebanon that hopes to put the pinch on IS finances in order to, among other things, stem its capacity to recruit and pay fighters. The training course is aimed at officials from the Iraqi Central Bank and the nation’s fraud squad police division.

“It is they who will be at the front in terms of stopping the funding,” said the foreign minister, Kristian Jensen, according to Metroxpress newspaper.

“They need to learn how to read the money flow and which signals and red flags to be aware of when monitoring the flow of finances. It’s equally important to shut down the flow of finances to IS as it is the flow of weapons.”

READ MORE: First he fought Islamic State in Iraq, and now he’s fighting the Danish police in court

No teacher’s PET
The group will be led by Jens Madsen, a former head of the Danish intelligence agency PET and former head of the Danish police’s fraud squad, Bagmandspolitiet.

He will use Danish experience and knowledge to strengthen the coalition’s efforts by creating instruments and IT systems and train specialists.

“It’s important to build up the authorities in the nation in order to have a more effective method of fighting terrorism,” said Madsen.


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