Interior Ministry: 45 people accused of smuggling currency were arrested during July in four governorates

INA-  Baghdad

The Ministry of Interior announced, on Friday, a new statistic of the operations of thwarting currency smuggling during the month of July, while clarifying the fate of the seized funds.

"The directorate was able to seize 2,500 Master cards and arrest 45 accused of currency smuggling operations in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Basra and Najaf during the month of July," said Brigadier General Hussein al-Tamimi, director of Anti-Organized Crime Operations at the ministry, to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

Tamimi added that "the seized Cards are subject to legal procedures in coordination with the Central Bank of Iraq, to find out the beneficiaries of those funds.

He pointed out that" the Directorate of combating organized crime was able to thwart the transfer of all funds by cards, and all funds are subject to the authority of the government, "indicating that"the directorate was able to seize 1250 smuggled cards through 23 defendants in Najaf only.

Earlier, the Ministry of Interior announced the neutralization of currency smuggling operations through the issuance of credit cards, while warning that issuing more than one for the purpose of buying dollars is contrary to the law.