$70 million smuggled through Ibrahim Khalil border crossing daily

PUKMEDIA

Ibrahim Khalil Border Crossing

According to a report by the British Middle East Eye (MEE), a number of officials of a certain party in the Kurdistan Region, smuggle $ 70 million abroad through the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing daily.

According to the report, smuggling by land started in the Kurdistan Region and at the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing before being sent to Turkey and Dubai. The Iraqi government has installed several checkpoints to thwart this.

The MEE reported that at least $70m is smuggled daily out of Iraq through the Kurdish region.

A group of influential local officials and politicians take these dollars out through the Ibrahim al-Khalil border crossing to Turkey, three owners of exchange and financial brokerage companies and Iraqi officials told MEE.

The Turkish authorities charge $5 for every $10,000 taken across as customs fees, owners of exchange companies said. The smuggled money is deposited in private accounts in Turkish banks, and some find their way to private bank accounts in Dubai.

"The customer agrees on the required amount in Baghdad and sends us the equivalent amount in Iraqi currency, so that he can get his money in dollars in Turkey or Dubai," the owner of an exchange company involved in the process told MEE.

"All I need is to make a phone call to a person in Dubai or Turkey, so that he can deliver the money in cash to a person named by the customer or transfer it to the next country according to the customer's request."

Click here to see the full report.



PUKMEDIA