Intelligence agency seizes 1 million liters of illegal oil in Basra

BASRA, July 29 — Iraq’s intelligence agency announced on Thursday it had seized one million liters of oil from a plant in Basra, adding that a breach was discovered in the oil pipelines in Baghdad governorate.

A statement from the agency read:

“In line with the instructions of the honorable Minister of Interior, the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency continues its proactive operations to curb oil smuggling and its derivatives. Based on accurate intelligence information, the agency’s teams managed to seize a bitumen oxidation plant in Basra governorate used for unauthorized trading and recycling of oil and its derivatives. The quantity of the oil product found in the tanks and reservoirs of the plant is approximately one million liters.”

“In a separate incident, the above-mentioned teams in Baghdad governorate also discovered a breach in the oil pipeline and its derivatives in the Karkh side. The seized materials were handled in accordance with proper procedures and handed over, along with the suspects, to the relevant authorities for further investigation.”