Iraq: Five held in anti-corruption raids in Dhi Qar and Maysan

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi security forces and Federal Anti-Corruption Commission teams detained five people in two separate operations in southern Iraq, including a man in Maysan province who impersonated a police officer to extort a citizen. In the first operation, forces raided the Nasiriya municipality building in Dhi Qar province with support from the anti-corruption body's teams. They took into custody the head of the real-estate department and four employees from the revenues unit. A security source said the arrests were carried out under judicial warrants issued by the Dhi Qar Corruption Investigation Court. In a separate operation in Maysan, the Federal Anti-Corruption Commission said a suspect posed as an officer assigned to the agency's crime-fighting unit and used a forged identity to approach a citizen. The commission said the man threatened the citizen with fabricated documents accusing him of currency counterfeiting and demanded 15 million dinars in exchange for destroying the paperwork. The man was caught red-handed while receiving a partial payment after being monitored by the commission. He was presented to the magistrate handling Maysan corruption cases and detained under the relevant provisions of Decree No. 160 of 1983. No further details on the two operations were immediately available.