09/10/2015
8267 times read
09/10/2015
8267 times read
TOKYO, Oct 8, (AFP): Toyota Thursday said it was willing to help the United States probe how the Islamic State group has managed to get hold of so many of its notoriously tough trucks. The Japanese manufacturer responded after an ABC News report on Wednesday said counter-terrorism officials at the US Treasury have been in contact with the auto giant over the issue.
Fleets of Toyota trucks are a common feature of IS propaganda videos out of Syria, Iraq and Libya — many converted into fast moving heavy gun platforms known as “technicals”. “We are supporting the US Treasury Department’s broader inquiry into international supply chains and the flow of capital and goods in the Middle East,” Toyota said in a statement. “Toyota has a strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities,” it said.
Toyota’s pick-up trucks — as well as similar vehicles made by Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu — have long been favoured by a host of militias, insurgencies and armies around the world thanks to their affordability, adaptability and durability. The final stages of a conflict in the late 1980s between Libya and Chad is often called “The Toyota War” because of the military successes Chadian soldiers had thanks to the fast moving pick-ups. Inspired by its tough reputation, the BBC’s Top Gear programme once famously tried to destroy a Toyota pick up by setting it alight, hitting it with a wrecking ball and even putting it on top of a building that was then blown up. Each time mechanics using a basic toolkit managed to bring the battered 4x4 back to life.
Activities
Three of four people arrested in Australia over a terror-linked murder by a radicalised teenager have been released without charge in a move police admitted Thursday was “incredibly frustrating”. The four, aged between 16 and 22, were seized during large-scale dawn raids across Sydney on Wednesday after police employee Curtis Cheng was shot outside New South Wales state police headquarters last week. Farhad Jabar, 15, shot the 58- year-old in the back of the head while reportedly shouting religious slogans before being gunned down in an exchange of fire with police. The Sydney Morning Herald, citing police sources, said Jabar was allegedly recruited by a group of extremists in western Sydney, who thought they were under too much surveillance to carry out the murder themselves. New South Wales state Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said it was clear Jabar was radicalised and had “terrorist links,” but there was not enough evidence to hold three of the four men detained. An 18-year-old remains behind bars
Evidence
It also said CCTV footage from Parramatta Mosque in western Sydney showed Jabar meeting several men in the lead-up to the killing. Police have yet to confirm this or why Cheng, a police accountant, was targeted. Canberra is concerned about the prospect of lone-wolf attacks by individuals inspired by groups such as Islamic State, and has cracked down on Australians attempting to travel to conflict zones including Syria and Iraq. The authorities lifted the terror threat alert to high a year ago, introduced new national security laws and have conducted several counter-terrorism raids. In September 2014, Melbourne police shot dead a “known terror suspect” who stabbed two officers and in December, Iranian-born self-styled cleric Man Haron Monis and two hostages were killed following a 17- hour siege at a Sydney cafe.