Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has dismissed nine senior security and government officials and ordered legal action against those involved in oil smuggling in Jurf al-Sakhr, north of Babil province, Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said on Saturday.
Source: Shafaq News via Hatha Alyoum
Al-Zaidi chaired an emergency security meeting to review the findings of a committee investigating the smuggling operations. The committee confirmed the allegations, uncovered illegal oil refineries and identified manipulation in the sector, corroborating findings previously reported by the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency, Shafaq News reported.
Kurdistan24, reporting the same announcement separately, said al-Zaidi removed senior security, intelligence and oil-sector officials after an investigation confirmed smuggling operations and identified illegal refineries in Babil's Jurf al-Sakhar area.
Source: Kurdistan24 via Hatha Alyoum
The nine posts emptied in one order
The dismissals covered nine positions: the Babil police chief; the North Babil police director; the Interior Ministry's intelligence and counterterrorism director in Babil; the provincial director of the National Security Service; the Defence Ministry's intelligence and security director in Babil; the Babil intelligence director; the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander in the province; the commander of the Interior Ministry's Sixth Energy Police Brigade; and the director of the Oil Pipelines Company at the Oil Ministry.
Five years of suspected extraction near the pipelines
According to Shafaq News, the investigation followed a confidential intelligence report the outlet obtained, which documented five years of activity consistent with suspected illegal oil extraction near pipelines in Jurf al-Nasr, an area where the Iran-aligned Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah is reported to control security in parts of the district. That control is reported by Shafaq News and has not been independently adjudicated.
Babil Governor Ali Turki al-Jamali, who denied the allegations, resigned on Thursday, Shafaq News said.
Warning to every province, and why it matters beyond Iraq
Al-Zaidi warned security and intelligence officials that they would be held accountable for any oil smuggling within their jurisdictions, and urged operations commanders, provincial police chiefs and heads of security agencies to strengthen oversight, prevent smuggling and hold negligent officials accountable.
Oil is the backbone of Iraq's state revenue, and smuggling networks that tap pipelines and run illegal refineries drain money meant for public services in one of the Gulf region's biggest energy producers — a region where large numbers of Indian and Punjabi workers live and work, and whose energy security shapes oil prices felt worldwide.
What happens next will be watched in the courts: the prime minister has ordered those involved in the Jurf al-Sakhr operations to be referred for legal action, and the test of the purge is whether prosecutions follow the dismissals — and whether the crackdown reaches beyond Babil, as al-Zaidi's warning to other provinces suggests it could.