Kurdish smugglers bringing death to shores of Europe
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The National
2 days ago
- The National
Iraqi forces seize Captagon in Damascus drug raid
Iraqi counter-narcotics forces seized more than 1.35 million Captagon pills during a raid in Syria's capital, in a rare and significant cross-border operation, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. The operation in Damascus was the first direct security engagement between Iraq and Syria and reflects both countries' commitment to tackle the drugs threat. An elite Iraqi unit launched the mission after gathering 'precise intelligence from sources embedded in regional drug trafficking networks', a ministry statement said. The raid was carried out "in close co-operation with the Syrian Directorate of Narcotics Control", it added. The operation led to the capture of a major international drug trafficking network and the confiscation of approximately 215kg of narcotics, it added. 'This achievement represents a significant milestone in the framework of international co-operation to combat cross-border threats,' the ministry said. It emphasised Iraq's 'commitment to tracking down drug traffickers wherever they may operate'. The statement did not reveal when the raid was carried out, how many people were arrested or their identities.
The National
3 days ago
- The National
Iraqi-British hotel owner and his Iranian oil smuggling link to Yemen's Houthis
Reviews of The Gainsborough Hotel speak of its spacious rooms, friendly staff and convenient location for visiting some of London's most famous tourist sites. It is fair to say all those who have enjoyed their stay at the hotel are probably unaware of any connections the establishment has to oil smuggling and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRCG). A closer look at the ownership of the property where the hotel sits, however, reveals it to be a company whose owner has been placed under sanctions by the US for masterminding a vast oil smuggling operation. Salim Ahmed Said is an Iraqi -British citizen who runs a network of companies that have been selling Iranian oil falsely declared as Iraqi since 2020, said the US Treasury when it announced the sanctions this month. The 47-year-old owns and runs companies that have smuggled oil for the benefit of the Iranian government and the IRGC. Through bribery of Iraqi officials he has been able to pass off Iranian oil as if it originated from Iraq, through a terminal he runs just over the border. The network of which his is part has "collectively shipped tens of millions of barrels of Iranian oil and other petroleum worth billions of dollars", the Americans allege. An investigation by The National has uncovered the London-business connections of Mr Said, who the US says has two British passports and goes by several aliases. Links to a Syrian shipping magnate, who is under US sanctions for his dealings with the Houthis and Hezbollah, can also be revealed. Ships involved in the black market Iranian oil trade link Said with Houthi and Hezbollah financier Abdul Jalil Mallah. The US has described Mr Mallah as an "illicit shipping magnate", alleging he and his brother "use their shipping empire to support Iran's malign activities and those of its proxies". A join t investigation by The National and the Greek journalism organisation iMEdD revealed Mr Mallah appears to operate the business in Greece despite being under sanctions. London hotels Turn the corner on to Queensberry Place, after a short walk from South Kensington underground station, and at the end of the street the Natural History Museum's imposing towers loom into view. On the right-hand side of the road is The Gainsborough and directly opposite The Exhibitionist, its sister hotel. Both are run by the same Dublin-based company. The Gainsborough building is owned by Robinbest and was bought for £6.5 million ($8.6 million) in 2018, according to accounts. Robinbest is in turn owned by The Willett Hotel, whose owner is Mr Said, and the company has assets of £27 million, according to its most recently filed accounts. The Willett Hotel's correspondence address is, however, The Exhibtionist Hotel, while its registered office is The Gainsborough Hotel. The building that is home to The Exhibitionist is owned by another company, The Exhibitionist Holdings. The Exhibitionist Holdings' solicitor said his client's accountants were raising this crossover with Companies House "as a matter of urgency". The Willett Hotel's registered office was once the Exhibitionist Hotel's site but it shifted across the road to The Gainsborough before again it moved, this time to an accountancy firm in east London, which was also the registered office of Robinbest. An employee, who asked for his identity and that of the firm not to be revealed, confirmed the handsome townhouse was part of Mr Said's empire when The National visited. He said he was 'very surprised' when told both the companies have been placed under sanctions by the US. 'We were not aware that he was involved in the oil business, only hotels,' he said. 'We're not aware of any sanctions.' The employee said the firm dealt only with Mr Said's staff and never with him. They sent all the relevant paperwork needed to file accounts. 'Everything is above board and the companies pay tax,' he said. Both The Willett and Robinbest moved their registered office addresses to The Gainsborough soon after The National began its investigation. Mr Said is from the town of Ranya in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region and first came to the UK in 2002 after which he was granted asylum, The Sunday Times reported. His first business venture was a shop named Rhine in Leicester, which was dissolved in 2014. It is not known when he became involved in oil trading. Smuggling operation The complex and shadowy operation run by Salim Ahmed Said is revealed in detail by the US Treasury. At the heart of his sanctions-busting enterprise is the oil terminal at the port of Khor Al Zubayr in southern Iraq, where a company he owns, VS Oil, manages six oil storage tanks. The port sits on a waterway about 40km from Basra but Iran sits on the other side of the neighbouring Shatt Al-Arab river. As sanctions have tightened on it in recent years, Iraq has increasingly become Iran's lifeline and there have been reports that oil smuggling has increased since Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Sudani took office in 2022. The proximity of Mr Said's operation to Iran makes it convenient for the country's oil to be clandestinely shipped there clandestinely. To pay for the delivery, VS Oil employees smuggle hard currency into Iran in cars and lorries, some of which carry millions of dollars each. Once the Iranian oil is dropped off at Khor Al Zubayr it is mixed with Iraqi oil. Tankers carrying Iranian oil also conduct ship-to-ship transfers with vessels carrying Iraqi oil in nearby VS Oil's terminal facilities. Vessel tracking shows that VS Oil has been visited by a number of tankers, which transport Iranian petroleum products on behalf of US-sanctioned Iranian company Triliance Petrochemical. Ships operating for Iranian military front company Sahara Thunder have also visited VS Oil. Sahara Thunder is the main front company that oversees the IRGC's support for Russia's war in Ukraine, including the design, development, manufacture and sale of thousands of drones. This activity was founded by the widespread bribery of Iraqi officials. Mr Said has paid millions of dollars in bribes to many members of key Iraqi government bodies, including its parliament, in exchange for forged vouchers allowing him to sell Iranian oil as if it originated from Iraq. This blended oil that was authenticated by these officials was ultimately sold on the world markets. One expert told The National it was surprising that vessels had been actually sailing into an Iraqi port with Iranian oil to be blended with Iraqi. The expert explained that previously ships transporting Iranian oil had been pretending to be moored in Iraqi ports only to circumvent sanctions. This is done through what is known as spoofing – the manipulation of a ship's automatic identification system. 'So the blending part, that was something that we had not been seeing,' said the expert. While the US has stepped up its designation of vessels suspected of smuggling oil for Iran, tanker operators are 'very quick at adapting'. 'They're quick at moving things under a new name, new companies, new structures, new vessels, repurchasing vessels to fill the gap left by the ones have not been designated,' the source said. 'It's a shame because the US is doing a great job in terms of finally paying attention to this, but it's also not a comprehensive strategy. They are piecemeal designating. 'Until they really hit everyone hard, every single vessel, every single company, they just keep replacing and replacing. And so it just makes it harder.' Shadow fleet In a bid to avoid sanctions on its oil exports imposed by the US, Iran uses a network of oil tankers whose ownership is deliberately obscured. This shadow fleet, as it has come to be known, enables the regime to transport its oil to generate revenue for the struggling national economy. Iran relies on non-sanctioned ships to receive Iranian oil from sanctioned vessels using ship-to-ship transfers before carrying the cargo to buyers in Asia, mainly China. Ships in this shadow fleet have been operated by companies owned or controlled by Salim Ahmed Said. According to the US Treasury, he controls a UAE-based company called VS Tankers despite avoiding formal association with the business, which has smuggled oil for the benefit of the Iranian government and the IRGC. VS Tankers was formerly known as Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading. In 2020, the company reportedly brokered a deal to transport Iranian oil via Iraqi pipelines to be blended and sold as Iraqi oil. Mr Said is also the owner of Rhine Shipping, which was first implicated in blending Iranian oil to sell as Iraqi oil in 2022. Rhine Shipping was previously exposed as the manager of the oil tanker Molecule, which loaded oil in the Arabian Gulf from an Iranian tanker that had turned off its location transponder to conceal the transaction. The Molecule was subsequently sanctioned for its role in shipping Iranian oil as part of the network of Iran-backed Houthi financial official Sa'id Al Jamal. Helping the Houthis Under the direction of Mr Al Jamal, Syrian citizen Abdul Jalil Mallah facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars to Swaid and Sons, a Yemen-based exchange house associated with the Houthis. Mr Mallah is subject to an arrest warrant in the UK and has been listed as a specially designated global terrorist by the US Treasury since 2021 for his involvement with Hezbollah and the Houthis in deals it says were worth 'millions of dollars". He has worked with Mr Al Jamal to send millions of dollars' worth of Iranian crude oil to Hezbollah, the US alleges. Mr Al Jamal, financial backer of the Houthis, is based in Iran and directs a network of front companies and vessels that smuggle Iranian fuel, petroleum products and other commodities to customers throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Last year, the US Treasury also sanctioned four ships belonging to Mr Mallah's brother Luay Al Mallah. Abdul Jalil was successfully sued in the UK over a deal he struck with three subsidiaries of the US firm Oaktree Capital Management (OCM) to finance the acquisition of two cargo ships – the Amethyst and the Courage. OCM sought to terminate the deal in June 2021 when Mr Mallah was placed under sanctions, and his assets and bank accounts were subject to a US freezing order. Subsequent lawsuits sought to wrest control from Mr Mallah. OCM had also sought £1 million in legal costs and in a subsequent court order in May 2024, Mr Mallah was given a prison sentence for fraud. Mr Mallah's submissions included forged documents purporting to be from the Greek authorities showing he had left the country before the notice was served, which led to a hearing for contempt of court. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail, though he is unlikely ever to serve any of it. In response, the shipping tycoon insisted he was the victim of a set-up. "I have nothing to do with Hezbollah and the Houthis. This is a big lie against me to rob me,' he said. Luxury home Mr Said lives in Dubai in the prestigious Palm Jumeirah, a big attraction for foreign buyers making high-end property purchases. When The National tried to pay a visit to his villa in Frond D, security did not allow anyone to pass unless there was permission from the owner. There was a small roundabout before the checkpoint at the Frond D entrance with a small sign on the right mentioning the letter of the Frond with a brief warning in Arabic and English: "Residents and visitors only". The security guard asked for identification and the reason for visiting. 'The host needs to alert the security so you can go inside after showing identification,' he said. Dubai is one of the world's most active markets for luxury homes and The Palm is the most desirable location for $10 million-plus properties. It has 17 fronds which extend outward from the trunk of the island, forming the distinctive palm tree shape. It is spread over an area of 560 hectares and divided into three main areas, The Crescent, Trunk and Fronds. They are primarily designed to house luxury residential villas, hotels and resorts. In June, an announcement was made for five luxurious villas to be built on land bought for Dh365 million ($99.4 million) on the island by developer 25 Degrees. Frond D is a gated sub-community on the north-east of The Palm development. The fronds are primarily residential areas, so access is often restricted to residents, guests or those with legitimate business.
The National
3 days ago
- The National
'We will never go back': Bedouin families forced into permanent exile after Sweida violence
Khitam Hawarin, an 18-year-old Bedouin from the town of Shahba in Syria 's Druze-majority province of Sweida, said she lay soaked in her own blood for more than an hour. She recalls watching helplessly as her mother's corpse burnt beside her, after Druze fighters had opened fire on her family. The assailants killed her mother, her aunt, her uncle's wife, her grandmother and two cousins, including one who was only six years old, as they hid behind a stone wall. 'Everyone died, except for me,' she said two weeks later, her arm and leg wrapped in white gauze, her movements sluggish with pain and grief. The young Syrian survived only because Druze neighbours intervened, taking her to a nearby hospital. 'They told people I was their daughter and changed my name so no one would know I was Bedouin,' she said. Armed men from Druze factions had been roaming the hospital, threatening to kill any Bedouin they found. 'There are good Druze and bad Druze,' Khitam said candidly. 'The ones who attacked us were armed. The ones who saved me weren't.' She spoke little, still visibly in shock, her brown eyes heavy with sorrow. Khitam and her family were evacuated days later in a humanitarian convoy. The girl, who was supposed to take her baccalaureate exam this summer, is now living in a classroom in Izraa, in Syria's Deraa governorate, as a displaced person. She no longer sees a future for herself. The school is one of 64 displacement centres hosting thousands of families who fled the vicious sectarian violence that erupted two weeks ago between Druze militants and armed Bedouin. What began as retaliatory attacks between two long-standing rivals escalated rapidly, as Syrian troops entered the fray on July 16. Druze factions, who distrust the new authorities led by a now-disarmed rebel group formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, accused Syrian forces of siding with Sunni Bedouin and mobilised to repel them. The violence soon engulfed the entire Sweida region, killing more than 1,300 people, including civilians from both sides, general security forces, tribesmen and Druze gunmen, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, Though a ceasefire between Druze leaders and Damascus was announced on July 19, civilians are still reeling from the conflict and the situation remains unstable. No return Though Druze civilians were the primary targets of the sectarian clashes, Bedouin families were also subjected to summary executions, according to testimonies gathered on the ground. The National could not independently verify all witness accounts. Bedouin families accused the faction aligned with Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, the influential Druze religious leader and vocal critic of Syrian authorities, of being behind the violations. Sweida governorate, home to about 700,000 people, includes a small Bedouin minority. Families interviewed by The National said they had lived peacefully alongside their Druze neighbours for years. They described the recent violence as a turning point, one that is irreversible. 'This is a departure with no return. It's truly a change in the religious and cultural make-up of the region,' Cedric Labrousse, a specialist in Syrian affairs, told The National. 'If you remove those who left voluntarily, those who were evacuated in recent days, and those still trying to flee, there won't be many Bedouin left here in a few weeks. Most Bedouin homes have been burnt. So even if they return, where would they go?' He said what had long been a localised feud between some Druze armed groups and certain Bedouin factions has now taken on a deeply sectarian dimension. 'It wasn't really there before, but now it's been implanted and it will stay in people's minds,' Mr Labrousse warned. 'Just imagine what Bedouin children will think of the Druze after this. And imagine what Druze children will think of the Bedouin in 20 years.' Hind, Khitam's sister, said she saw a missile tear a child apart. 'His head flew one way, his body another, right in front of my eyes,' she said. 'We can't go back. There's no way we can ever return." Their home has been looted and burnt down. Meanwhile, in a Druze-majority village, tribal fighters daubed graffiti on walls that read 'down with the collaborators, down with the Druze pigs'. In Sweida, The National also collected harrowing accounts from Druze civilians who survived attacks and summary executions, which they said were committed by Syrian troops and tribal gunmen. 'I don't see how trust between the two communities can ever be restored,' Mr Labrousse said. Marginalised community Mr Labrousse said the conflict between some Druze and Bedouin started as a trade rivalry. 'For years, Sweida has relied on smuggling, drugs, fuel, weapons … control over trafficking routes has always been critical, even before the civil war,' he said. He said that during the war, the smuggling business, particularly Captagon trafficking, expanded significantly, involving Druze and Bedouin groups. Their alliances often shifted, with groups alternating between business partners and rivals. He said that after former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad's fall, many cartels, storage sites and Captagon warehouses were dismantled'. 'This led to the collapse of the informal economy, the main source of livelihood in marginalised Sweida. Druze and Bedouin groups began fighting over a shrinking pool of resources, further fuelling tensions." But this time the feud took on a sectarian dimension. On one hand, 'the Bedouin have been gradually pushed to the margins of Druze society,' Mr Labrousse explained. 'The Druze had organised themselves, with their own local administration, while the Bedouin felt increasingly excluded, neglected, and marginalised.' On the other hand, the Druze remain distrustful of the new Syrian government, citing its Sunni Islamist roots, and view the new Syrian government as more sympathetic to the Bedouin. The Druze are a minority religious group that emerged from a branch of Islam, with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Some hardline Sunni Muslims consider them heretics. Their distrust has deepened as the Syrian Ministry of Defence continues to struggle to rein in a patchwork of factions, some of them radical, despite pledges of unification. In March, nearly 1,500 mostly Alawites citizens, the minority sect to which former Mr Al Assad belongs, were killed in a spree of sectarian violence, reportedly involving groups recently integrated into the army. At the start of the recent clashes, thousands of tribesmen from across Syria deployed to Sweida to support Bedouin fighters opposing Druze factions. 'Some of them had clear sectarian motives,' Mr Labrousse said. They stayed in the area for days despite calls from interim President Ahmad Al Shara to withdraw. 'I can't trust anyone' Assaf Mohammad Dahmash, a Bedouin man at a displacement centre, said he would never return to Sweida, a place he had called home since 2016 when he fled from ISIS in Deir Ezzor. 'They're capable of doing bad things. Not all of them, some are truly good people. But I don't think anyone can trust any more,' he said. 'It's become pure sectarianism. Like, if they see a Sunni, they will slaughter them. I heard a sheikh say that with my own ears." He said he had good relationships with his Druze neighbours in Sweida, whom he may never see again. 'I called my friend yesterday, we've known each other since 2016. We used to eat and drink coffee together. He was crying on the phone. His house was looted and his car was burnt. He told me to come back to Sweida but it's impossible.' A member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, providing humanitarian assistance at one of the shelter centres, said the number of displaced people was still rising and there is no plan for what comes next. In the displacement centres, families are too shocked to even think about it. 'People here have no hope, no ambition. They just want shelter, wherever it may be,' said Mr Dahmash.
