Toyota willing to help probe over ISIL truck fleet

TOKYO - Agence France-Presse

FILE - In this undated file photo released by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants of ISIL hold up their weapons and wave flags as they ride in a convoy, which includes multiple Toyota pickup trucks, through Raqqa city in Syria on a road leading to Iraq. AP Photo

Toyota Oct. 8 said it was willing to help the United States probe how the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has managed to get hold of so many of its notoriously tough trucks.

The Japanese manufacturer responded after an ABC News report on Oct. 6 said counter-terrorism officials at the US Treasury have been in contact with the auto giant over the issue.
 
Fleets of Toyota trucks are a common feature of ISIL propaganda videos out of Syria, Iraq and Libya -- many converted into fast moving heavy gun platforms known as "technicals".
 
"We are supporting the US Treasury Department's broader inquiry into international supply chains and the flow of capital and goods in the Middle East," Toyota said in a statement.
 
"Toyota has a strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities," it said.
 
Toyota's pick-up trucks -- as well as similar vehicles made by Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu -- have long been favoured by a host of militias, insurgencies and armies around the world thanks to their affordability, adaptability and durability.
 
The final stages of a conflict in the late 1980s between Libya and Chad is often called "The Toyota War" because of the military successes Chadian soldiers had thanks to the fast moving pick-ups.
 
Inspired by its tough reputation, the BBC's Top Gear programme once famously tried to destroy a Toyota pick up by setting it alight, hitting it with a wrecking ball and even putting it on top of a building that was then blown up.    

Each time mechanics using a basic toolkit managed to bring the battered 4x4 back to life.
 
ISIL, which has seized huge amounts of military hardware during its rise -- much of it US military equipment left by fleeing Iraqi allies -- boasts large numbers of pick-up trucks in its videos.
 
"ISIS [ISIL] has used these vehicles in order to engage in military-type activities, terror activities, and the like," Mark Wallace, a former US Ambassador who now runs a counter terrorism project, told ABC News.    

"In nearly every ISIS video, they show a fleet -- a convoy of Toyota vehicles and that's very concerning to us," he added.
 
The same report quoted Iraqi officials saying they feared new pick-up trucks were being smuggled into ISIL held territory from neighbouring countries.    

In its statement Toyota said it had strict "procedures and contractual commitments" in place to try and stop the vehicles falling into the wrong hands.
 
"However, it is impossible for any automaker to control indirect or illegal channels through which our vehicles could be misappropriated, stolen or re-sold by independent third parties," the statement added.