Baghdad-INA
The National Security Service announced on Thursday the thwarting of a smuggling operation involving trucks loaded with contraband and the arrest of eight suspects.
In a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the Service stated that its detachments seized six trucks loaded with smuggled goods and arrested eight suspects in northern Baghdad and Salah al-Din. The statement explained that the two operations followed an investigation into economic smuggling and the issuance of judicial warrants from the relevant judge. In Baghdad, well-planned ambushes resulted in the seizure of two trucks. One truck was loaded with large quantities of pharmaceuticals concealed under cleaning materials, while the other was loaded with smuggled cigarettes.
The statement explained that "detachments of the agency in Salah al-Din Governorate seized four trucks en route from the Kurdistan Region to Baghdad." It noted that "two of the trucks were carrying 97 containers of engine oil, with discrepancies discovered in the customs documents of one of them between the declared origin of the goods and the actual origin of the cargo. The other two trucks were found to be carrying 3,226 cartons of smuggled cigarettes concealed beneath foodstuffs in an attempt to disguise them."
The statement added that "the suspects, along with the seized goods, were referred to the relevant authorities to complete the legal procedures against them."
