IRAQ: Kurdish ‘men of the night’ ply dangerous trade with Iran

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They are known as the “men of the night.”

A rugged group sits in front of a liquor store in the northern foothills of Iraq, swapping stories and glasses of whiskey as their horses feed nearby. As dusk approaches, they begin strapping heavy cartons onto their animals for the long journey ahead.

Their cargo: bottles of Absolut vodka, Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal Scotch whiskey destined for Iran.

Trade has flourished between the two countries for centuries. Some of it is legitimate, some of it not. In the ethnic Kurdish enclaves on either side of the border, many livelihoods are built on the illicit flow of alcohol, cigarettes and other contraband into Iran.

It is a profession fraught with danger. The smugglers travel along narrow paths riddled with land mines from the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s. Many have been maimed or killed in explosions, they say.

Sometimes, the Iranian border guards can be persuaded to let them pass for hefty bribes. But often, they will shoot at the smugglers and their animals.

Iranian border guards have killed at least one smuggler and 10 horses in the last 10 days, said Paiman Mahmoodi, an Iranian Kurd and father of three.

Authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq are reluctant to discuss the scale of the illicit trade, which is a sticking point in relations with their powerful eastern neighbor. But the smugglers say about 200 horses laden with alcohol cross into Iran every night from this remote spot.

Each trip takes three days in each direction and earns the men no more than $70 or $80, Shehab Fizi said. But there are few other ways to earn a living in these impoverished villages.

Donkeys and mules could carry bigger loads, but Fizi said most of the men prefer the speed of horses. It improves the odds of escaping a police or military ambush.

“He is part of my life,” Fizi said, planting a kiss on his stallion named Crazy Horse.

Fizi recalled an attack last year in which one of his friends was killed.

‘We ran away, but his horse stayed beside him until daylight,’ he said.

The men say they repay their horses’ loyalty by giving them as much time as they can to rest up between trips -- and the occasional shot of whiskey to help them through a cold winter’s night.

As they finished loading up, a man who gave his name only as Thiman hummed a traditional Kurdish song.

Gazing toward the border, he said: ‘I don’t know what fate has in store for me: maybe death by the Iranian soldiers, or maybe enough money to live for another week.”

-- Asso Ahmed on the Iraq-Iran border