Including plans to end smuggling, (INA) opens 9 files with the commander of the border guards

INA-  Baghdad

The commander of the border guard forces, Lieutenant General Muhammad Abdul Wahab Sukkar Al- Saeedi, revealed on Wednesday in details plans to secure and develop the Iraqi borders with all neighboring countries, while pointing to the seizure of more than three thousand infiltrators during the first half of this year.
 
Securing the Syrian borders
 
Al-Saeedi said in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The border is considered the most important and most threatening to the security of the country, especially the Syrian, which is more than 600 kilometers long, especially the area extending from the north of the Euphrates River, which is based to the north of Rabiaa, due to the unstable security situation on the Syrian side and the presence of SDF forces holding the border and the Syrian region instead of regular forces," noting that "this cast a shadow on the security of the region and in the past became a corridor for infiltration and smuggling, including smuggling drugs and the infiltration of people wanted by the judiciary, including ISIS elements."
 
Infiltration of Terrorists 
 
He added, "Great efforts have been made by the leadership of the border forces resulted in holding this area at an ideal rate and ending the issue of smuggling and infiltration from Syria to Iraq and vice versa," stressing that "these efforts were represented in many axes, including the performance of sectors and the unity of command and control, instead of being held by several different sectors of the army today, the Iraqi border has become held by the leadership of the border forces exclusively, and the other important part is fortifications and with great support from the minister."
 
 
Thermal Cameras
 
He went on to say: "Thermal cameras have been installed along these borders, which overlap with each other with high efficiency," pointing out that "this latest project is in place in developed countries."
 
He pointed out that "there is another project, which is the construction of a road in coordination with the province of Nineveh with a length of 75 kilometers extending from um Jereis down to the zero border with the construction of barrages."
 
He pointed out that "the totality of our measures on the Syrian border is exemplary, which ended cases of infiltration and smuggling by more than 90%, and border control in this area contributed to the stability and security of the country at home."
 
Installing Concrete Towers
 
With regard to the Iraqi-Iranian border, he explained, "The area of our border with the Islamic Republic of Iran reaches 1493 kilometers, and we have large projects, starting from Basra up to Sulaymaniyah, where we have reached a completion rate of more than 60 percent," stressing that "all the area from Basra from Al-Faw to Sulaymaniyah was covered with thermal cameras, and towers were installed more than 700 concrete towers, the distance between one tower and another is 1 km to 1.5 km, in addition to two streets and a building Stations and the construction of the path with the zero Iraqi-Iranian border from Al-Shayb to Khanaqin with a length of 680 kilometers."
 
Fortifying projects on the Iranian border
 
He added, "Thousands of mines have been removed from the remnants of the Iraqi-Iranian war and the establishment of fortifications on them after some of the stations inside (10-15) kilometers were useless and the exchange of vision between our points has become mutual between them," stressing that "there are large projects in Maysan province, including the construction of a fence with a length of 250 km and a length of 216 PRC barrier, in addition to bridging the barrages on the valleys near the Iranian side."
 
 
cooperation with neighboring countries
 
With regard to the border with Jordan,al- Saeedi said, "The border with Jordan is stable by virtue of the level of great cooperation between Iraq and Jordan and the presence of regular sectors on the Jordanian side and the nature of the desert land through which it is difficult for a person to infiltrate, and from inside Iraq a flat land that has been covered with thermal cameras, and the Jordanian border is ideally held with no indication to any case of smuggling or infiltration."
 
He continued: "As for the border with Saudi Arabia as well, there is great cooperation between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but we have problems that sometimes occur is the exposure of ISIS elements from southern Rutba to security points, our fighters proved their valor and steadfastness in repelling three cases of exposure that occurred from inside Iraq on the Fifth Brigade on the Saudi border," pointing out that "our border with Kuwait is also stable in an excellent way and there is close cooperation."
 
"What is happening on the border are big projects, they did not exist before, and there is great support from Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani and the defense minister, and we have other projects that will see the light of day at the end of this year," he said.
 
Contracts for the purchase of cameras
 
He pointed out that "there are two contracts in the process of completing the equipment, after which we will reach more than 600 thermal cameras on the Iraqi border with neighboring countries."
 
He continued: "We have 600 cameras currently installed, as the nature of the land from one region to another determines the specifications of these cameras and makes them not cover all the distance by virtue of the terrain and the nature of the land," noting that "our project that we plan on is to complete our borders and cover them with thermal cameras.”
 
He went on to say: "We also plan to complete the barriers in the rest of our borders that I talked about, such as what is in Syria, which is the PRC checkpoint and the blower fence, which is also ideal in limiting the crossing of people, and we also have a lot of work on our borders in the region with Turkey and Iran in Sulaymaniyah province."
 
He pointed out that "Iraq's relationship today with neighboring countries casts a shadow on the level of close cooperation between the leaders of the borders of neighboring countries with our leadership, and therefore we have an ideal state of cooperation with all leaders of neighboring countries, and everyone is supportive of border control from both sides," stressing that "there is continuous support by the Minister of Interior."
 
He continued: "We have large projects, where during the first half of this year, as there are 14 contracts in various directions to equip the Border Forces Command, including two contracts with engineering equipment for the first time from international companies and various excavators, and two contracts for cameras, concrete barrier and the rest of the fortifications, in addition to various contracts."
 
  
Large numbers of smugglers caught
 
He pointed out that "large numbers of smugglers who are in possession of narcotic substances and large quantities were seized, where they were arrested and weapons and vehicles were seized due to the fact that the Customs Directorate is working efficiently and therefore a large number of vehicles violating customs duties are being seized and legal action is taken against them."
 
"What we see today of stability is due to the border units, as there are unknown soldiers working day and night on borders of the country, and they are the ones who secure this stability to a large extent," he said.
 

Caravan Manufacturing Plant
 
He pointed out that "the other factory is the caravan manufacturing plant, which was transferred from the holy Karbala to Badra and produced more than 160 caravans were installed on the border strip to house fighters, and there is an asphalt plant located in Jemimah near Salman, which adopts the paving of border roads, and there is also a factory in the Fourth Brigade for the production of drinking water bottles."
 
He went on to say: "We also have a sewing factory, which adopts equipping our fighters with border guard suits according to what is prepared and planned of suits, slogans and any supplies, as it covers the need of the border forces command," noting that "these factories are located in the border, because the borders need engineering effort and on-site production, and have achieved excellent percentages of meeting our need in various fields."