ISIS 'scoop £140m cash selling antiques on eBay'

And they secured the stash by looting 4,500 archaeological sites, Vitaly Churkin said in his letter to the UN.

He claimed it was a business model that was nabbing Islamic State – also know as Daesh – as much as $200million a year.

The ambassador also hurled accusations at Turkey, claiming that its territory was being used to smuggle the loot.

It comes after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane, bringing the two nations to the brink of war.

Churkin, who has also claimed Turkey buys oil from ISIS, said the historic items then made their way to eBay.

He said that ISIS even has its own antiquities department, which has sole permission to excavate and move the items.

"The main center for the smuggling of cultural heritage items is the Turkish city of Gaziantep," Churkin wrote in the letter.

"The stolen goods are then sold at illegal auctions and then through a network of antique shops and at the local market," he said.

"The antiquities are then offered to collectors from various countries, generally through Internet auction sites such as eBay and specialized online stores."

In some cases, he said, ISIS were using social media to contact customers directly and so keep more profits themselves.

Disturbing details have now emerged suggesting there are 28 teen jihadis in Brighton planning ISIS-style terror attacks.

Meanwhile their atrocities in the Middle East continue, with four captives crucified and executed in a new Islamic State video.

An eBay spokesman said: "eBay has absolutely zero interest in having illicit listings of cultural or historical goods appear on our platforms.

"We’re currently looking into the claims of this letter. To date, we are not aware of any direct evidence of listings for items on eBay that resulted from ISIL looting or similar activity."

(dailystar.co.uk)