Iraq dismantles human-trafficking network, victims freed
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraqi authorities broke up a human-trafficking network on Sunday, according to the Anti-Human Trafficking Directorate.
In a statement, the directorate said that security forces arrested seven suspects and freed five victims held by the network, adding that the operation was carried out after securing judicial approval from the competent judge at the Al-Karkh First Court.
Legal action has been launched against the detainees, and the victims have received immediate support.
مكافحة الاتجار بالبشر تفكك شبكة متورطة بعدة عمليات إجرامية وتلقي القبض على 7 متهمين وتحرر عددا من الضحاياhttps://t.co/WMU2XE1vnp pic.twitter.com/a9EzFOu0Kj
— وزارة الداخلية العراقية (@socialmoigoviq) November 23, 2025
Iraq continues to confront wider trafficking challenges. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 221,000 people in the country are affected by what it describes as “modern slavery,” leaving women, children, minorities, and displaced families particularly exposed to exploitation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that adult women make up more than half of all victims, while girls account for nearly one-fifth.
Official figures released in April recorded 2,300 victims over the past three years, during which authorities dismantled more than 1,800 networks and individuals involved in trafficking and forced begging.
Earlier today, Baghdad police arrested the alleged leader of a cross-border organ-trafficking ring in an ambush in Al-Kadhimiya, where he confessed to working with accomplices in Ahvaz and Erbil to recruit young people to sell their kidneys.
