‘US, PKK are after Daesh’s gold reserves in Syria’

The U.S. and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are after Daesh’s seven-ton gold reserves in Syria as they prepare to seize the terror group’s stronghold in eastern Syria, according to a former senior Daesh member.

Speaking exclusively to Yeni Şafak daily, former Daesh finance responsible Abu Zeid al-Ambari revealed the true intentions of the U.S. and PKK as they prepare to attack the final Daesh stronghold in Syria.

Abu Zeid also pointed that Daesh has 17 tons of silver in the besieged city of Hajin in Deir Ezzor, noting that Daesh had 13 tons of gold in its coffers in mid-2016.

“Only seven people knew where the gold was hidden; two were killed, one went missing; and now the U.S. and PKK are trying to seize the gold,” said Abu Zeid.

“Upon seizing Mosul and Raqqa, the terror group’s so-called finance ministry created a ‘gold pool.’ Abu Bakir [al-Baghdadi] and Abu Ali gave the orders. They laid the infrastructure to funnel all the gold from Daesh-occupied cities to this pool. A special delegation was created for this purpose, and in 2015 they began to press gold and silver coins and put them into circulation,” revealed Abu Zeid.

“The terror group secured a large income from oil, cereal and trade activities, turning it into gold. Large amounts of gold were brought from Mosul, Talafar, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Raqqa to this ‘gold pool.’ Between mid-2015 and 2016, Daesh had 2.5 tons of gold in its coffers, which enabled it to press its own money,” he continued.

“Some of the terror group’s henchmen, who fled the cities of Mosul and Raqqa after they fell, bribed the Peshmerga, U.S. soldiers and intelligence services in exchange for allowing them to be smuggled out of the region. The wheels of this cycle of bribery are still running to this day. In 2017, the Peshmerga received gold from senior Daesh terrorist Abdulsamad Sejeri, who they promised they’d give an ID and passport so he can be smuggled out of Iraq. Instead, they ended up executing him after seizing large amounts of gold from the man who had been tasked with overseeing the finances of Daesh.”

Daesh has lost almost all the territory in Iraq and Syria where it once declared a caliphate, including its two main cities of Mosul and Raqqa last year.

Former Daesh terrorist Abu Zeid revealed the fate of the gold amassed by the terror group.

“After the fall of Raqqa, Daesh transferred the gold in its procession to the city of al-Mayadeen. Later, after the latter also fell, they moved their reserves in Syria to the Badiyat al-Sham desert. The same was also done in Iraq where the gold was hidden in the desert region of Tikrit where no force was able to enter. For now the U.S. and PKK hope to find the gold reserves in the Hajeen region of Deir Ezzor, however, the terror group had taken all the gold and silver from urban centers under its control,” concluded Abu Zeid.

The U.S.-led coalition is supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is predominantly made up of PKK/YPG terrorists, in assaulting the last Daesh territory in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.