Six arrested over $99M customs transfer scheme

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi authorities have arrested six people, including a private bank branch manager and a customs official, accused of forging customs paperwork to send about 150 billion dinars, roughly $99 million, abroad in foreign currency, the Interior Ministry's Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency said on Monday.

The network operated from a house in Basra, where it prepared falsified documents away from security and oversight bodies, the agency said. Working with customs brokers, the suspects manipulated the money transfer system and customs clearance data, including by changing the descriptions of imported goods, to carry out large transfers on behalf of trading companies in return for payment.

The agency added that the suspects confessed to the scheme and had been referred to the judiciary.