The Houthi militia in Yemen is shaking down shipowners for $180m a month to grant safe passage through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
This is according to a report by the United Nations, seen by Arab News.
The 537-page document, written by the UN Panel of Experts of Yemen, covers the period from 1 September 2023 to 31 July 2024.
Sources told the experts that the protection racket has been made possible by a high-ranking Houthi leader arranging money transfers from shipping agents.
“The sources estimate the Houthis’ earnings from these illegal safe-transit fees to be about $180m per month. The panel has not been able to verify this information independently,” the report said.
Over the past year, this would have meant a $2.2bn boost to Houthi coffers if correct.
The Houthis also raise money by selling valuable antiquities overseas, printing their own money and confiscating company assets, as well as imposing fees on oil imports, the report found.
“The Houthis have been amassing substantial illegal resources through the organized smuggling of various items such as weapons, drugs, telecommunications equipment, prohibited goods such as banned pesticides, non-permissible medicines and cultural heritage property,” the report added.
The investigation revealed that Houthi-appointed authorities collected about YER 994bn (nearly $4bn) as customs duties on imports of fuel through ports under their control from 1 April 2022 to 30 June this year.
The militia has also armed Al-Qaeda fighters as part of its civil war.
And the UN experts accused the Houthis of recruiting and exploiting Ethiopian migrants to fight.
The rival Yemeni government urged countries to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation and target their revenue.
Egypt estimates that vessels rerouting around South Africa has cost it $6bn in lost revenue from the Suez Canal.
