Financial facilitators: an important component of terror networks

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study the financial facilitators who provide financial muscle to terrorists. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology adopted is based on the available materials on two major terrorists groups: Al Qaeda and LTTE, who have terrorized the global community in the last two decades. Findings - The key findings are that most financial facilitators are knowledgeable, literate and suave and who are kin of the top leadership or part of the clan/sect. Kinship is an important factor for trust worthiness, which leads to their association with the top level leadership for a decade or so, to handle aspects related to a terror group. Also, illegal fund raising/moving aspects are controlled by financial/operational heads of groups, while legal fund raising methods are handled by sympathizers. Research limitations/implications - The methodology is based on descriptive analysis of existing materials gathered from different writings of different persons in different places, as none of the traditional approaches to the study is possible. The only possible method for analysis is a behavioural approach, and that too on a selective basis, not in total. Practical implications - Government intelligence agencies need to strive to identify such facilitators, who in turn may lead them to the top leadership, as happened in the cases of Osama bin laden and Hambali. Originality/value - There is no previous systematic approach which has attempted to study the financial facilitators who provide financial muscle to terrorists. The value of this paper lies in its originality of presentation of facts in a systematic fashion.