KRG asks ministries for ‘joint special force’ to curb border crossing violations

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s interior and Peshmerga ministries have been tasked with forming a new, joint force to prevent “violations and illegal movement” at the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings, the KRG announced on Thursday.

At a weekly meeting chaired by prime minister Masrour Barzani, the two ministries were tasked on Thursday with forming “a joint special force to prevent violations and illegal movement at all the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings”, a government statement released after the meeting read.

“Legal powers are needed to implement the laws and procedures to confront smuggling and illegal movement at all the crossings,” the statement added.

The Kurdistan Region has four official border crossings. Three are on the Kurdistan Region-Iran border - Haji Omaran in Erbil province, Bashmakh in Sulaimani province, and Parvizkhan in the Garmiyan administration – and one, the Ibrahim Khalil crossing, is on the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border. There are also many other unofficial border points.

In September 2020, a network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars' worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing was uncovered after an investigation by the Kurdistan Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.

Three weeks later, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani announced that the government had formed a committee to study the issue of smuggling "in detail."

"This so-called smuggling definitely exists at border crossings – not at one specific border crossing, but all those present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” spokesperson Samir Hawrami said.

According to the administration at Ibrahim Khalil – the only border crossing between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region used for trade – more than 92,000 tonnes of expired food, cosmetics, and medical supplies were confiscated by border forces in 2018 and 2019. Nearly 8,000 tonnes of goods were confiscated from the crossing in September and October 2020 alone.

Also discussed at Thursday’s Council of Ministers meeting was preparation of a draft budget bill for the year 2021, revenue reorganization, spending reductions, and limiting financial deficits.