Toyota will investigate how its cars end up in Islamic State

TOKYO. KAZINFORM - Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation will cooperate with the US authorities to investigate how its vehicles end up in the hands of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, an official spokesperson of Toyota's US affiliate told Kyodo news agency on Thursday.

The spokesperson said Toyota supports the broad investigation carried out by the US Treasure on uncovering international smuggling routes to the Middle East.

Several media reports said earlier that Washington is trying to uncover how Islamic State militants acquire large numbers of Toyota vehicles, including Hilux pickup trucks and Land Cruiser SUVs. It was noted that the extremist organization lately received several hundreds of new Toyota cars.

The car manufacturer says that the company ceased operations in Syria from 2012. However, videos of IS parades on the territory of Syria show that more than two-thirds of cars they use were produced by Toyota. The company's spokesperson said that Toyota cannot track the routes of vehicle delivery if cars were stolen and resold. For more go to TASS.ru.