Iraqi border security foils currency smuggling at Syrian border

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi border security on Sunday night foiled an attempt to smuggle large sums of money at the al-Qaim border with Syria and arrested two suspects as authorities crackdown on cross-border currency smuggling. 

Over 26 million Iraqi dinars (around $19,800), $40,000, and 10,000 Australian dollars were seized from two suspects who attempted to cross the border, Iraqi state media reported. The two were arrested by the security forces. 

The suspects had reportedly hidden the money “in a professional manner” and had withheld from declaring the amount they were seeking to leave the country with. 

Iraq has struggled to prevent the flow of dollars to outside the country. The currency is believed to be smuggled into neighboring Iran.

Over the past few years security along the Iraqi-Syrian border has been strengthened to prevent the infiltration of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters.

Recently, the al-Qaim border has also become a transit point for narcotics, particularly captagon pills, being smuggled from Syria into Iraq. 

Iraqi security forces have intensified narcotics operations in recent months, with several high-profile drug seizures reported. In March, Iraqi authorities seized three million captagon pills hidden in apple crates in a truck crossing the border. 

The al-Qaim border crossing is located between Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province and Iraq’s Anbar desert region. Pro-Iranian militia groups are present on the Syrian side of the border.