Baghdad: The National Security Service, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, has successfully dismantled a foreign criminal network engaged in kidnapping and extortion operations within Baghdad.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the National Intelligence Service revealed in a press release that, leveraging precise intelligence and field surveillance, they coordinated with the Directorate for Combating Human Trafficking at the Ministry of Interior to arrest a criminal network. This network comprised ten individuals who held foreign nationalities and were residing illegally in Baghdad. The individuals were involved in luring foreigners to Iraq under the guise of offering job opportunities. Once in Iraq, the victims were detained and tortured, with videos of their torture sent to their families to extort large ransoms for their release.