Iraq arrests 19 in fuel smuggling crackdown, seizes 15 tankers

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Energy Police Directorate said Sunday it arrested 19 people accused of smuggling petroleum products and seized 15 tankers prepared for illegal transport during operations carried out this month.

Maj. Gen. Dhafer al-Husseini, director general of the Energy Police, told the Iraqi News Agency that sustained enforcement efforts have sharply reduced illicit activity. He said oil smuggling operations have fallen by 98% and that violations against oil pipelines nationwide have been “completely closed.”

Al-Husseini said Energy Police units arrested 19 suspects across Iraq in January following what he described as precise intelligence monitoring and intensive field operations. He added that officers seized 15 tankers and vehicles of various sizes that had been prepared for smuggling petroleum products in several governorates, excluding the Kurdistan Region, and that legal measures were taken against those involved.

He said units also carried out raids in Anbar this month on two sites used for illegal smuggling and storage, seizing an estimated 437,000 liters of petroleum products.

In previous operations against fuel smuggling, Iraq’s Energy Police have reported a sharp decline in illegal activity through intensified enforcement and new technology. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 15, 2025, the directorate said its activities resulted in the seizure of more than 27 million liters of petroleum products, the capture of 995 vehicles and the dismantling of 58 sites prepared for smuggling, while “the smuggling file has been ended by 98%,” and breaches of oil pipelines were reduced to zero, Director General Dhafer al-Husseini said.

As part of wider enforcement efforts, Iraq’s Energy Police in October 2025 began using drones to monitor oil infrastructure nationwide. Director General Dhafer al-Husseini said authorities arrested 69 suspects and seized 45 tankers prepared for smuggling between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14, adding that raids in Anbar and Salah al-Din governorates led to the seizure of about 1.7 million liters of petroleum products.