ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Investigations are underway of nine Peshmerga soldiers and officers arrested on charges of business deals with ISIS, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Peshmerga ministry announced on Wednesday. "Some Peshmerga charged with business deals with ISIS in Kirkuk have been arrested and investigations of them are underway in the ministry's intelligence department," said Halgurd Hikmat, media officer for the Peshmerga ministry. It is suspected that others also may be complicit, Hikmat said. He declined to comment further, saying investigations have not yet finished. When the investigations are concluded, the ministry will release an announcement on that regard, he added. Nine Peshmerga were arrested a few days ago near Daququ, southern Kirkuk. Five of them were from the Ministry's 80 Unit and the other four from 70 Unit. Financial dealings with ISIS have been a problem previously. The KRG formed a committee to investigate smuggling of cars, food, and fuel across territories then held by ISIS. The final report issued by the committee in early 2015 revealed that the illegal trade amounted to $1 million a day. A number of officials from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Peshmerga had been involved in the illegal trade. In December, Shiite commanders announced that they had arrested tens of Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi soldiers accused of carrying out trade with ISIS in Hawija.
