Inside the ISIS loot market — here’s how much fighters can sell their ‘war spoils’ for

APIn this Friday, June 19, 2015 photo provided by a website of the Islamic State group, IS members prepare foodstuff to be handed over to the poor during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Mosul, northern Iraq.

ISIS (also known as ISIL, Islamic State, and Daesh) has managed to grow its territory and conduct mass operations overseas because it has an abundance of funding.

Militants in Syria and Iraq are netting between $150 million and $200 million per year from illicit trade in plundered antiquities, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said in a letter released on Wednesday.

However, ISIS continually bolsters up its cash reserves through taxation and confiscation — basically looting. It gives the terrorist group nearly the same amount of revenue as it gets from oil.

Research from the Financial Times shows that every time ISIS seizes more land, the fighters are paid using the goods they stole in raids and looting sprees.

According to the FT, ISIS authorities calculate the dollar value of the stolen goods. They then pay the raider responsible for the confiscation a fifth of the market value, then put it up for sale in a local market. ISIS fighters are then able to buy the item for half the local “loot market” value.

Business Insider took a look at the FT’s report and highlighted six items here.