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How Pirates, Rebels & Insurgents Make Money
Ever wondered how rebels, insurgents, pirates and terrorists all over the world make money? Besides the obvious lootings, hijackings and ransoms, which are risky and not always reliable, let’s analyse the top 3 ways these guys make money (method #3 is kinda astounding):
1. Roads🛑
The easiest way rebel groups make money is by controlling roads. You may think these guys control entire territories or towns but, they only spend their resources setting up roadblocks at chokepoints ie. highways & bridges. Every time you need to pass through, you pay them a fee, you’re in trouble if you refuse. Why not take another route? Well, they wreak havoc at other routes, so it’s best you take the one where they offer “protection” (from themselves), hence the toll fees. There are around 10,000 roadblocks all over Afghanistan, and the route from Herat to Kandahar itself brings in nearly $200k a day.
2. Boats ⛴️
Here’s the typical pirate playbook. Hijack cargo ships and loot them or demand ransom from the ship’s insurance, or both. The maritime marauders are similarly strategic, they lurk around important sea routes ie. near the Suez Canal, where most of the world’s cargo ships will pass through. But here’s where the pirates get entrepreneurial, they created their own stocks.
3. Pirate Stock Exchange 💱
The pirates who frequent the Suez Canal have opened up a pirate stock exchange in the small Somalian town of Harardhere that anyone can theoretically invest in. Around 70 piracy operations are listed on this town’s pirate stock exchange. Investors would invest in these pirate stocks to fund the piracy operation with cash, fuel, boats or weapons. If the operation was successful, the pirates would return home and distribute the pirated profits to the investors. Apparently, a woman invested in an RPG-7 (worth $500) to one of these pirate missions and received $75k returns, that’s a whopping 150 times ROI.
These rebel groups and insurgencies are getting really savvy. It’ll be tragic if they find something to do in the NFT space.
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