INSS arrests 28 blackmailers

INA-  Baghdad

The Iraqi National Security Service INSS announced on Wednesday the arrest of 28 blackmailers, including two who forced a businessman to sign bills worth half a billion dinars.

INSS said, in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "in continuation of the efforts of the National Security Service in following up on complaints of blackmail received through the free hotline 131 and the e-mail [email protected], our detachments in Babil Governorate were able, based on technical and field effort, and after obtaining judicial approvals to arrest 3 defendants, two of them used a woman to lure a businessman in order to blackmail him by photographing him in an obscene position and forcing him to sign bills worth half a billion dinars in exchange for not publishing the photos.

In Nineveh Governorate, with tight ambushes, INSS stated that "its detachments were able to arrest 8 blackmailers who bargained with their victims to obtain sums of money in exchange for not publishing their photos on social media," noting that "7 others accused of blackmail cases were arrested in Anbar Governorate.”

INSS indicated that "the Service’s detachments carried out separate duties in the governorates (Dhi Qar, Diyala, Muthanna, Wasit, Holy Karbala, Basra, and Kirkuk), during which it managed to arrest 10 blackmailers who pressured innocent citizens to obtain money through illegal means," explaining that " the accused, after recording their testimony, were referred to the competent judicial authorities, so that they receive their just punishment.