Turkish-Iraqi smuggling ring to Europe dismantled in Tunisia

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Tunisian security authorities on Thursday announced an international network smuggling Iraqis and Turks into Europe had been successfully dismantled, with four Iraqis being arrested.

In an official statement by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior, a national investigation into terrorist and organized crime uncovered and dismantled a network that facilitated the “exfiltration of people from Iraq and Turkey” to Europe through the northern African nation.

The Ministry revealed the network operated from Iraq and Turkey, with people using false passports to travel through Tunisia, across the Mediterranean, into Europe.

Four Iraqis and one Tunisian man, all believed to have been active within the smuggling ring, have been arrested and investigations are ongoing as two other members remain on the run.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the incident.

The Tunisian government has claimed the dismantling of the smugglers’ network comes within the framework of efforts to “uncover terrorist elements and plots” and catch those attempting to illegally return to their countries.

Since the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq late last year, and the ongoing fight against the jihadist group in Syria, many foreign IS recruits have tried to smuggle their way back home. Others, however, are attempting to avoid prosecution in the war-torn countries.

According to some reports, at least a dozen Tunisians are being held in prisons in Iraq, most likely on charges of belonging to IS.  In the past year, Iraq has executed hundreds of IS members, but tens of thousands of those accused of being IS members and affiliates still await sentencing.

Iraqi courts recently sentenced 212 people to death in Mosul and surrounding areas, most of them for membership to the extremist group.

International humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, say efforts by Iraqi authorities to speed up the implementation of death sentences could lead to the execution of innocent people.