The police are returning to the streets of Baghdad again to confront kidnappings

The police are returning to the streets of Baghdad again to confront kidnappings


 Baghdad / Wael Ne'ma

A big pessimism appeared in the Iraqi comments on Media Media, which specializes in following the map of the streets of Baghdad, after the circulation of pictures of the return of checkpoints that were lifted a few months ago. Residents of the capital have been busy for years with the security control movement, which is usually associated with talk about traffic, even making applications on smartphones to locate irrigated bottlenecks.

In two years, the government has reduced more than 75 percent of the fixed checkpoints inside Baghdad, as well as a large number of other smaller points known as "anchors" and removed concrete barriers around residential neighborhoods.
Observers attributed the return of some points back to the streets and areas vital to the recent increase in kidnappings, and the development of a new plan to secure the Karrada area, and expand the protection of the area to further distances, especially as most of the checkpoints returned on the side of Rusafa.
Since the bloody Karrada explosion in July 2016, there have been major changes to the security situation in Baghdad, where a campaign was launched on social networking sites marked with the "Al-Zahi" detector, referring to the failure of the former explosives detector. Following the pressure, Prime Minister Haider Abadi decided to withdraw the old device from the controls, and spread the wheels of explosive detection known as (Rapscan).
On the return of the checkpoints, Saad al-Mutalibi, a member of the Security Committee of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said that "150 control in Baghdad has been lifted so far." The local official, in connection with the (range) yesterday, estimated the number of remaining checkpoints at about 25 control only.
The majority of these controls, according to the operators, the devices to detect explosives or ballistic dogs known as the unit of (K9), stressing that "the remaining controls are subject to evaluation and some of them will be strengthened by the devices or will be lifted."
Two months after the publication of the "Rapscan" - after the explosion of Karrada - a car bomb also exploded in Karrada. It was not known if the second bomb had passed the new controls. "He resigned after a call with Abadi at the time of the bombing, in which he discovered that there was no solution on the horizon," former interior minister Mohamed al-Ghabban said in a televised interview a month ago.
The Sadrist movement, which was at odds with Badr bloc, which runs the Ministry of the Interior in the summer of 2016, accused Minister Ghubban of preventing the deployment of the wheels in the stores. On the impact of criticism, which stood behind the Sadrist movement, al-Ghabban submitted his resignation, despite the denial of the link between his departure from the ministry and the bombing of Karrada.
During that period, Baghdad operations carried out multiple campaigns to raise security controls in the capital's neighborhoods. The plan was that the removal of checkpoints would coincide with the deployment of modern surveillance cameras, a project that faced some pitfalls.
Return of the skyscrapers
But activists on social networking sites showed pictures days ago showing the re-erecting of caters recently lifted. The pictures showed footage of the re-erecting of Thabra's patrols on the Rusafa side, particularly on Abu Nawas Street and Zayouna. The images showed the stretch of queues of vehicles parked at checkpoints at long distances.
Ali al-Sarhid, another member of the Baghdad Provincial Security Committee, believes the kidnappings are behind the reopening of some closed checkpoints.
"The return of some of the controls has contributed to the reduction of kidnappings and the arrest of some gangs," he said. The authorities, according to the local official, close the road after receiving information about the presence of a kidnapped. "The procedure has prompted some kidnappers to leave the kidnapper in many cases."
Recently, adviser to Interior Minister Wahhab al-Tai revealed the arrest of eight gangs involved in operations to kidnap doctors in Baghdad.
"One of the gangs was arrested," he said, referring to a group of nine people who raided the house of Dr. Talib Hashim Mohsen Dahl al-Khafaji in the Ghazaliya area and stole $ 40,000. The adviser assured the Interior Minister, "citizens in Baghdad and the provinces that the eye watch the Ministry of the Interior lookout for the criminals." And threatened "to take deterrent measures to prevent anyone who tries to disrupt public security through false and deliberate information about mock killings for the purpose of fame and the like."
Last week, the Baghdad Operations Command accused "electronic armies" of destabilizing internal security and "sowing terror" by focusing on criminal offenses and placing them in "terrorist" operations targeting a certain segment of Iraqis. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that the government treats organized crime as "terrorism", pointing to "deliberate media intimidation" by some quarters over the crimes committed in the past few days. During his weekly press conference, Abadi called on citizens and state agencies to "deal strictly with information concerning organized crime," adding that "organized crime gangs are trans-sectarian."
Earlier this July, Abadi stressed his government's intention to curb organized crime in the cities, noting that many of its cells were being destroyed by "intelligence force".
For Karrada
On the other hand, Saad al-Mustalibi denies the presence of new rulers or the restoration of what has been lifted, saying that "what is happening is to strengthen some of the controls security elements and equipment."
"There is a plan to secure Karrada, to develop controls in the ports and the perimeter of the area, and to control Abu Nwas one of the main controls equipped with (K9)."
Earlier, security officials had uncovered new security measures to open the closed Karrada Street, including the expansion of the security cordon to the areas of Al-Sinaa Street, Al-Amana and Zafaraniya.
A week ago, Baghdad operations chief Lieutenant General Jalil al-Rubaie pledged to open the entire Karrada area. "The area today is 100 percent safe and we have put a number of filters on the Abu Nwas road," Rubaie said in a press statement.
The idea of ​​removing barriers and checkpoints in neighborhoods has not been approved by the entire population. Some believe that their survival enhances security despite the traffic.
"We have found some residents refuse to remove the barriers, for fear of terrorist attacks," said Ali al-Serheid, who is responsible for lifting concrete barriers in Karkh. The last suicide attack near sealants in central Baghdad last Ramadan put the explosive detectors (Rapscan) in doubt. Baghdad Governor Atwan al-Atwani told Al-Madaa, commenting on a series of bombings that hit Baghdad. "It may be a use of insulating material that obscures the vision of the Rhapscan device, especially since the device suffers from some technical deficiencies," he said.
To end the controversy over the effectiveness of the device, the governor revealed at the time about the deployment of new devices in Baghdad, and stressed that it "more effective than the current device." According to the local government in the capital, there are 5 devices in the stores of the province, and the former governor (Ali Tamimi) did not use for reasons unknown.
As for the fate of these devices, Saad al-Mutlaibi said that "they have already been published at the entrances of the capital, as these ports are the most important for the security of Baghdad."

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