Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's National Security Service (INSS) on Thursdayarrested nine suspects in operations across four provinces targeting commercialfraud, food counterfeiting, and public health violations.
In Najaf, INSS officers raided an unlicensed factoryin the Bahr Al-Najaf industrial area, where the owner was repackaging Pakistanirice into bags bearing different commercial brands, and seized 675 tons ofrice.
Security forces in Al-Diwaniyah detained threesuspects at an illegal warehouse for relabeling food basket items beforemarketing them under false brands, confiscating nearly seven tons of productsand related equipment.
Officers in Babil arrested a suspect running anunlicensed dairy production facility and seized more than five tons of rawmaterials, finished goods, and manufacturing equipment. Authorities also shutdown a food production site in Basra for failing to meet health and safetystandards.
Last year, Iraq launched a nationwide crackdown onunlicensed commercial facilities after a fire at a hypermarket in Kut on July17 killed nearly 70 people. Since then, authorities have closed more than 1,100businesses for safety violations, stepped up inspections of public andcommercial facilities, and arrested several local officials over the blaze.