360 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 1 / 2013 with the theft (and subsequent sale) of other small items (mobile phones, GPS devices, watches) has been identified in the jihadist cells established in other European countries, including Switzerland, Italy and France22. 4. Forging of documents. Given that this activity covers one of the chief logistical needs of terrorist groups and organisations, it is not surprising that they work together with individuals from the criminal world who have previous experience as forgers. This is what happened with Ahmed Ressam, an individual associated with the Algerian SGPC, who was arrested in Washington in 1999 when he was trying to bring explosives into the United States so as to carry out an attack at Los Angeles international airport. This individual whose intentions fell within the scope of an ambitious terrorist plan developed by Al Qaida (the Millennium Plot) entered the United States from Canada using false documentation that he had obtained himself. In reality, Ressam had spent some years in Canada, obtaining money from theft and forging documents23. This is the same profile as a certain number of jihadists arrested in Spain during the decade of the 2000’s.24. A significant operation carried out in the United Kingdom showed that three members of a terrorist cell were planning to carry out attacks in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, and that they used various stolen credit cards so as to buy different articles that they wanted to send to jihadists in Iraq (some of these articles were GPS devices, night vision glasses, telephones or knives)25. 5. Kidnappings. Leaving aside the examples of the illegal capture and holding of people with the exclusive aim of forcing political concessions and obtaining publicity, kidnappings for extortion constitute a recurring mode of financing in the general history of terrorism, and also in that of some of the regional or local individuals associated with global terrorism26. The AQIM joining in with the Síntesis, 2007. 22 DEL CID GÓMEZ, Juan Miguel. “A Financial Profile of the Terrorism of Al Qaeda and its Affiliates”, Perspectives on Terrorism, vol.4, nº 4, 2010. 23 SAGEMAN, Marc. Understanding Terror Networks, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p. 100. 24 JORDÁN, Javier. “Un estudio preliminar sobre las tendencias del terrorismo yihadista en Europa” “A preliminary study on the trends of jihadist terrorism in Europe, Essays from the CESEDEN, 122, Ministry of Defence, Madrid, 2008, pp. 205-235; DE LA CORTE, Luis and GIMÉNEZ-SALINAS, Andrea. “Yihadismo en la Europa comunitaria: evolución y perspectivas de futuro” Jihadism in the European community: evolution and future prospects, in Athena Assessment, 4, 2008. 25 KREBS, Brian. “Three Worked the Web to Help Terrorists”, The Washington Post, 6/7/2007. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501945. html 26 U.S. Department of the Treasury. Remarks of Under Secretary David Cohen at Chatham house on ‘Kidnapping for Ransom: The Growing Terrorist Financing Challenge, October, 2012.
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