Iraqi oil workers operate pipeline valves at a southern oil field
Iraq deploys drones to monitor oil infrastructure, reports 69 smuggling arrests in two weeks
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Energy Police have begun using drones to monitor and secure oil infrastructure across the country, the force’s director said Wednesday, as part of broader efforts to combat widespread smuggling of oil and its derivatives.
“The General Directorate of Energy Police continues to perform its assigned duties around the clock to protect oil installations, companies, fields, and pipeline routes,” Director Dhafir Al-Husseini told the state news agency.
He said that from Oct. 1 to Oct. 14, the Energy Police arrested 69 people for alleged involvement in oil smuggling and referred them to judicial authorities. Authorities also seized 45 tankers and other vehicles allegedly prepared for smuggling operations “in all governorates except the Kurdistan Region,” Al-Husseini said.
Drone surveillance, he added, has officially launched as part of the effort to protect pipelines, wells, and fields. The technology is expected to enhance monitoring capabilities over Iraq’s vast energy infrastructure, much of which spans remote or poorly secured terrain.
Al-Husseini also said that security forces conducted raids on five smuggling sites in Anbar and Salah Al-Din provinces, seizing approximately 1.7 million liters of smuggled petroleum products in the first two weeks of October. The fuel was recovered and returned to state custody, he said.
Oil smuggling remains a major issue in Iraq, leading to both financial losses and environmental hazards. Armed confrontations have erupted in previous incidents: In April 2025, one person was killed near the Rumaila oil field west of Basra when police engaged a group attempting to steal oil pipelines.
In other high-profile cases, a Karbala court in December 2024 sentenced two people to 15 years in prison for puncturing a pipeline and trying to divert crude to sell on the black market. In February, the National Security Agency dismantled smuggling operations across five governorates, arresting 68 suspects and seizing 110 tankers and over 3.6 million liters of fuel. In Kirkuk, agents discovered a tunnel used to siphon oil from a main transport line, and in Basra, 97 tankers were found carrying millions of liters of oil for illicit trade.