Crime on the rise in Iraqi Kurdistan due to financial crisis: SULAIMANI / REFUGEES RESPONSIBLE

MESOP : MORE CRIME HERE : MORE CRIME THERE – MORE CRIME EVERYWHERE

Nrttvv – 26 Jan 2016 – SULAIMANI, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— In Sulaimani city in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, crime and kidnappings are on the rise according to a recent statement by the city’s police spokesperson. In the current environment, including an economic and political crisis, tensions are high and the overall situation in Sulaimani is bleak for many citizens. Some residents are stoking ethnic divides by blaming the current crisis on those entering the Kurdistan Region due to displacement from the ongoing conflict, regardless of the connection in these factors.

Sulaimani Police Spokesperson Sarkawt Ahmed told NRT that people are exhausted by the economic situation and desperate, causing an increase in crime. The decline of societal relations and increase in crime includes suicides, thefts, murders, kidnappings, and mass migration.

Ahmed said, “We also have registered cases of kidnapping, but it is not a large number.”Recent cases reportedly include kidnapping for ransom. Oftentimes such situations go unreported to police, since it is still commonplace to try to handle matters outside of the formal criminal system.“There is this kind of action randomly, and the people of Sulaimani are very aware, they help us, when they see something suspicious, they contact police directly.”Other types of crimes include complaints against businesses not paying workers. “Sometimes workers file complaints against an investor for less than $100,” added the Police spokesperson.

“The economic crisis is turning people into thieves and has made a bad reaction, but sometimes these actions don’t belong to the economic crisis,” Ahmed continued. In his statements, the police spokesperson also targeted Arab and Iranian displaced persons, stoking the already high level of tension and discrimination.

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