ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi intelligence agency on Sunday said it seized dozens of trucks and tonnes of oil, and made numerous arrests in raids on multiple oil-smuggling operations.
“These qualitative operations conducted by the Intelligence Agency over the past 15 days resulted in the seizure of 34 vehicles, with their drivers, used for trading and smuggling oil and its derivatives, in addition to the apprehension of four oil sites and a group of vehicles at the sites used for smuggling these derivatives within several provinces,” read a statement from the Iraqi Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency.
“Thousands of tonnes” of oil and its derivatives were also seized, the statement added.
Details were not given regarding the destination of the smuggled oil.
The individuals arrested “confessed openly” to the smuggling, the agency added, urging citizens to report smuggling operations via a hotline.
Oil is Iraq’s primary source of revenue, smuggling the natural resource is detrimental to its fragile economy.
The country relied on oil sales to cover government costs and pay civil servant salaries. Iraq pocketed $97.5 billion from oil sales in 2023, a significant decline from 2022’s record-setting $115 billion.
Iraq exported over 99.5 million barrels of oil in February, at an average rate of 3.4 million bpd, according to the oil ministry’s monthly report released on Sunday. More than 103.5 million barrels were exported in January, averaging 3.3 million bpd.
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