"As part of efforts made by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to control crossings to prevent fraudsters who break the law and commit fraud with disregard for public interest, we managed to reveal a fraud and smuggling network, with the help of the KRG's General Directorate of Customs and the Sulaimani [province] Customs Directorate," the ministry said, as quoted by the Kurdish Rudaw news agency.
According to the ministry, the network moved goods via the Parvizkhan checkpoint in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan, and the total amount of smuggled products was estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
Shakhawan Bakir, an official who is in charge of one of the border checkpoints, told Rudaw that the "technical staff" helped the regional authorities uncover the network.
Approximately 80 percent of goods are transferred from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan illegally and are not declared at border customs.