Report: Romania and 19 other countries involved in Islamic State bomb supply chain

The Conflict Armament Research (CAR), an independent organisation mandated by the European Union to investigate the supply of weapons to conflict zones, found 51 commercial entities and 20 countries involved in the supply chain of components used by Islamic State (IS) forces to construct explosive devices. Romania is one of the 20 states. According to CAR’s report, which is based on evidence from a 20-month investigation, these companies “produced, sold, or delivered critical material, such as chemical precursors, detonating cord, detonators, cables, wires, and other electronic components.” The 51 companies from states such as Romania, Austria, Turkey, Brazil, and the US produced, sold or delivered more than 700 components used by Islamic State to build bombs. Turkey had the highest number of firms involved in the supply chain (13), followed by India with seven companies. Among the 13 Turkish companies identified, eight are intermediaries that have re-transferred components produced in Brazil, China, India, the Netherlands, Romania, and the Russian Federation. A company in Romania, namely Alba Aluminiu, was providing chemical precursors. “Documents sent by Alba Aluminiu to CAR on June 11, 2015, indicate that, on October 10, 2014, the company dispatched 792 metal drums of aluminium paste by road from Zlatna, Romania, to Çayırova, Turkey,” reads the report. According to CAR, many components that can be used in the manufacture of homemade explosives, such as aluminium paste and urea, are not subject to transfer controls and don't need export licensing. “Other components, such as detonators and detonating cord, are subject to export licensing but are also commonly used in commercial activities, such as mining and industry. Licensing alone has not been sufficient to prevent acquisition by IS forces.” The report also includes investigations about mobile telephones and telecommunications cable. Find the full report here. Rifles used in Paris terrorist attacks could have come from Romania Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com