Kurdistan charges 23 more for smuggling people from Iran, defying coronavirus measures
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Wednesday, security (Asayish) officials in Sulaimani province announced the arrest of almost two dozen suspects who were attempting to sneak people and goods into the Kurdistan Region from Iran, violating anti-coronavirus travel restrictions and avoiding strict quarantine measures.
“In the context of ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the global pandemic, Asayish forces in Qalat Dizah district managed to arrest 23 individuals who were intending to smuggle people, along with contraband, past medical inspection checkpoints and into the Kurdistan Region.”
The statement mentioned that the defendants were referred to the judiciary according to various articles of the Iraqi Penal Code.
Qalat Dizah is located in a mountainous region along the Iranian border, an area where smuggling is a common way to make a living and multiple clandestine routes are well-established. This is proving to be a formidable challenge for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), now attempting to protect the population of the Kurdistan Region from coronavirus infections originating in Iran, where thousands have died from the disease.
On Sunday, security officials in Sulaimani province announced that their forces had arrested over 100 individuals since the first coronavirus related travel restrictions went into effect in late February for attempting to smuggle people into the province from Iran to avoid being quarantined amid the outbreak of coronavirus in the region.
Read More: Kurdistan arrests over 100 for smuggling people from Iran to avoid quarantine
Police in the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil said on Saturday that they had seized five vehicles carrying 52 individuals as their drivers were attempting to smuggle them into the city from the direction of the disputed city of Kirkuk, the most recent of several such incidents in the regional capital.
Officially referred to as COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus was first reported by Chinese authorities in late 2019. As it continues to spread worldwide, it has infected over 921,000 people and killed more than 46,000, according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.
As in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has ramped up checkpoint inspections throughout the Kurdistan Region, especially on roads from other parts of Iraq, to make sure all trucks are only carrying freight deliveries of food and other necessities.
The KRG announced on Tuesday a 10-day extension to the curfew now in place across all four provinces of the autonomous federal region. The measure, which restricts even pedestrian movement in many cases, had been set to expire on Wednesday.
Read More: Kurdistan extends regionwide coronavirus curfew until April 10
On Wednesday afternoon, the KRG Health Ministry reported that the total number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in the Kurdistan Region had reached 176, including two deaths, and 61 persons who have recovered.
Number of COVID-19 cases reaches 176 in Kurdistan Region; Iraq's total now 703
“The results of the examinations showed 14 new cases of the virus, with six confirmed in Erbil, five in Sulaimani, and three in Duhok,” a statement noted.
According to the federal Health Ministry in Baghdad, the total number of confirmed infections of the virus in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, has reached 703. Among those known to have contracted the virus, 50 have died and 170 have recovered.
Editing by John J. Catherine