The Syrian truck driver smiled as he regaled colleagues at a rest stop in Jordan with the tale of his scrape with Islamic State (IS) fighters while delivering tomatoes to Iraq.
At a makeshift customs checkpoint, the Sunni militants learned that his vehicle belonged to a Christian when another driver poked his head out and asked after his boss, Elias, a common Christian name.
Within seconds, the Syrian driver was surrounded by armed men who grabbed his papers and questioned him for more than 90 minutes before taking him away. The driver, a Sunni who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, was released unharmed after four days.
Photo: EPA
“It’s a risky job even though you are Sunni,” said Omar al-Dulaimi, 43, a hauler from the Iraqi city of Fallujah who carries goods from Jordan. “We have in mind when we start the engine all the possibilities and consequences.”
The stories from the highway highlight the risk of delivering vital goods to Iraq since the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized territory there and in Syria in June. They also offer a glimpse of the lucrative rewards for those willing to make the trip as IS has more need for revenue from the cross-border trade to wage its war.
Islamic State can get roughly US$1.5 million a month on average, based on estimates from what trucks are charged and the number of them crossing into Iraq.
The drivers can make at least twice the money they would normally earn because of having to deal with the extremists.
“It’s a trip into the unknown with gunmen who can confiscate anything they want,” said Mohammad Dawood, head of the Jordan Truck Owners Union, describing it as a potential “journey of death.”
“But they risk it because wages have doubled,” he said in Amman.
Dawood said no Jordanian has been harmed or killed, but that the road from Amman to Baghdad has become so risky that the number of Jordanian trucks entering Iraq has dropped to about 30 a day from at least 400. The number goes up to more than 100 as Iraqis and Syrians bring goods from Jordan or pass through the country.
For those who make the trip, there is a payday of as much as US$4,000 a run. The fees for the drivers, along with the charges levied by IS in Anbar Province in Iraq, are fueling a surge in prices for staple foods.
Most truckers in the Jordanian town of Ruwaished, 75km from the Iraqi border, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
One said the worst part of the journey starts after he finishes paperwork at the Iraqi border.
He then enters an area bristling with armed fighters. He said he was only reassured about resuming his runs to Baghdad following the IS takeover after Iraqi drivers tried the road and said it was doable. He said the trucks go in groups and only during daytime.
IS militants have set up a kiosk in al-Rutbah, an Iraqi town in Anbar, to collect customs duty.
At the kiosk, drivers pay US$300 for a consignment of fruit, detergent and construction material, and as much as US$1,200 for medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and some vegetables, like eggplants and squash.
They then receive a receipt with IS printed on top to present to fighters at other checkpoints and then to recipients of the goods in Baghdad for reimbursement.
Yasser al-Hafidh, owner of a supplier of engineering equipment based in Amman, said he sends packages for his family in Iraq on GMC pickups. Each one is charged US$100 by IS, which hands the driver the receipt.
For business shipments, al-Hafidh avoids the territory altogether. He fulfills his contracts with the Iraqi government by moving goods from Turkey through Kurdish areas in the north and down along the Iran border.
He pays US$4,000 to truckers to make the almost 3,000km trip, though each shipment is worth as much as US$600,000.
Drivers in Jordan said the militants are only interested in the money. They rarely check trucks’ loads and only ask if the drivers are smokers. Having heard of the ban on cigarettes in IS-controlled areas, almost all of them lie.
After a checkpoint in Azraq, a small town 100km east of Amman, the drivers turn right, taking a detour that bypasses IS areas and takes them south to the Shiite city of Karbalah and later Baghdad.
Then, other risks come into play. An Iraqi driver said he hides his customs receipt because he would be accused of being an IS sympathizer if it was found at the numerous checkpoints manned by the largely Shiite Iraqi army and allied militias.
The Syrian driver detained by the militants said there is no room for fear for those who go to Iraq. He said his wife knows she may never see him again once he leaves his home outside Damascus.
During his detention, the militants ordered him to shut off his phone, made sure he prayed five times a day and kept asking him if he supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. When they finally let him go, they gave him a Koran as a parting gift and asked him how he liked the IS. He said he had no choice but to praise it.
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