The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has set up a market to sell off the goods that it looted from Christian property when it took over Mosul in July last year.
According to Assyrian International News Agency, the Christian properties that have been sold in the "special market" included televisions, refrigerators, microwave ovens and other electronic devices, as well as furniture and artwork. Prices for each item were reported to range from 50,000 to 75,000 Iraqi dinars - or roughly $42 to $63 a piece.
ISIS has dubbed the market as "Spoils of Nasara," or Spoils of the Christians.
Among the spoils, Breitbart reported, are books and materials from the Central Library in Mosul, which Islamic State fighters have looted last month. Yahoo! News reported that the Islamic State has burned non-Islamic texts, but apparently some materials have made it to the black market.
The open-air market is drawing many buyers in Mosul as many of the items are good quality and being flogged at attractive prices.
The market appears to be another tactic by ISIS to raise funds for its campaign of terror.
ISIS has been hard at raising funds for its activities since it gained prominence in the region. In September, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Iraqi intelligence officials have intercepted an Islamic State militant in August, recovering a USB stick revealing that the Islamic State had made roughly $32 million selling valuable relics on the black market.
In addition, NBC News also reported in July that the Islamic State had earned multi-million dollar profits using oil produced from the two small oil fields it had seized near Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq. According to the article, ISIS sold crude oil it produced from these fields to Turkish traders for processing, and then bought back the oil to be sold to gas stations in the city of Mosul.
