(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) U.S. counter-terror officials have asked Toyota, the world's second largest auto maker, to help them determine how Daesh terrorists have managed to acquire the large number of Toyota pick-up trucks and SUVs seen prominently in the terror group's propaganda videos in Iraq, Syria and Libya, ABC News has reported.
Toyota says it does not know how the terrorists obtained the vehicles and is "supporting" the inquiry led by the Terror Financing unit of the Treasury Department - part of a broad U.S. effort to prevent Western-made goods from ending up in the hands of the terror group.
"We briefed the Treasury on Toyota's supply chains in the Middle East and the procedures that Toyota has in place to protect supply chain integrity," said Ed Lewis, Toyota's Washington-based director of public policy and communications.
Toyota Hilux pickups, an overseas model similar to the Toyota Tacoma, and Toyota Land Cruisers have become fixtures in videos of the Daesh campaign in Iraq, Syria and Libya, with their truck beds loaded with heavy weapons and cabs jammed with terrorists.
The Iraqi Ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily, told ABC News that in addition to re-purposing older trucks, his government believes Daesh has acquired "hundreds" of "brand new" Toyotas in recent years.
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