Iraq arrests mastermind behind weapons smuggling network to Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Iraqi security forces arrested the alleged mastermind of a weapons smuggling network that transported arms from Iraq into Syria, a senior Iraqi security source on Tuesday said.
According to the source, quoted by Iraqi news outlet Shafaq News, security forces in Anbar Province arrested Ahmad Zidan Khalaf al-Jabri, identified as the third suspect in the case.
Preliminary investigations indicate that al-Jabri orchestrated a network responsible for moving weapons shipments into Syrian territory, where they were reportedly intended for onward transfer to Lebanon.
The source said legal procedures have been initiated ahead of referring the suspect to the judiciary.
“Investigators are examining information that the shipment was loaded at an unidentified camp in Baghdad and that surveillance systems may have been disabled along routes used by three trucks carrying the cargo.”
One of the trucks was intercepted inside Syria, where authorities arrested its driver, Saleh Mohammed Saleh al-Marawi, while investigations and legal proceedings continue against other suspects involved in the network.
The security source added that investigators are examining information suggesting several of the suspects were previously linked to drug and weapons smuggling operations between Iraq and Syria during the rule of al-Assad regime.
The arrest comes amid a broader crackdown on illicit cross-border arms trafficking.
Earlier on Tuesday, Syria’s General Authority for Land and Sea Ports announced that customs officers at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing in the Damascus countryside had seized 226 RGC-type grenades concealed inside secret compartments in a vehicle bound for Lebanon.
Two days earlier, another senior security source in Anbar said Iraqi authorities had arrested the principal suspects involved in the weapons smuggling operation that was foiled last week.
On July 16, Syria’s Interior Ministry also announced it had thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of drones and missiles through the al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq.