UK, Iraq sign security agreement to target smuggling networks

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A “first-of-its-kind” security agreement was signed between Iraq and the UK on Thursday to enhance the cooperation over Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s border security to curb people smuggling and narcotics trade, according to the British home office.

“A world-first security agreement has been reached between Iraq and the UK government to target people smuggling gangs and strengthen border security co-operation,” announced the British government on Thursday.

Every year, tens of thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region seek to escape endless crises of lack of employment, political instability, and corruption by joining thousands of others from scores of countries taking perilous routes to Europe. The UK is a popular destination for many people, but crossing the English Channel is dangerous and sometimes deadly.

The agreement also seeks to streamline the “returns of people who have no right to be in the UK, where returns are currently very slow.”

Supporting Iraqi security in combating narcotic trade is also a part of the deal.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who has been holding meetings with Iraqi and Kurdish officials in the last three days, lauded the agreements as “landmark commitments” between the UK, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region “to work across the globe” in combating “criminal smuggling gangs.”

The agreement includes £800,000 from the British government for capacity building and training Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in border security to tackle “organised immigration crime and narcotics.”

“Countries that are thousands of miles apart must work more closely together than ever to stop these gangs getting away with it,” Cooper was quoted by her office as saying.

The agreement is building upon “operational work already being conducted between UK law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency [NCA], and Iraq,” the British government said.

Earlier this month, the UK’s NCA told Rudaw that it maintains positive relations with law enforcement partners in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, cooperating against “shared threats,” including organized immigration crime.

Kurdish criminal groups control the increasingly lucrative cross-Channel migration routes, according to the NCA, which said in its 2023 assessment that the groups are mainly based in northern Europe.

“There are smuggler gangs profiting from dangerous small boat crossings whose operations stretch back through northern France, Germany, across Europe, to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and beyond,” Cooper added.

Cooper was received by KRG Interior Minister Reber Ahmed in Erbil on Thursday.

During a joint press conference with Ahmed, she added that “organised criminals operate across borders, we also need law enforcement partnerships and agreements across borders as well,” to “keep communities safe” from organized crimes.

On Friday, the NCA announced that two Kurds hailing from Iraq and Iran pleaded guilty to people smuggling charges. Earlier in the month, a French court sentenced 18 people, mostly Iraqi Kurds, to prison terms of up to 15 years for operating a smuggling network that transported migrants across the English Channel to the UK.

“Illegal immigration is one of the concerns that Britain also has, and it is important and sensitive for us too,” Ahmed said, echoing Cooper’s sentiment.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also received Cooper on Thursday.

“The UK is a valued partner. In my meeting today with Secretary @YvetteCooperMP, we reinforced our shared responsibility to fight organized crime and address immigration challenges,” Prime Minister Barzani said in a post on X.

On Wednesday, Cooper met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Erbil, discussing bilateral cooperation and efforts to strengthen regional security.

During her visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, Cooper met with her Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, where they signed “a memorandum of security cooperation… to develop joint efforts in combating drugs and cross-border crime,” according to Shammari in a post on Facebook.

It is not clear if the deal mentioned by the Iraqi interior ministry is the one announced by the British government on Thursday.

 

Updated at 8:50 pm.