“He has a clinic where he practices fraud and deception of clients in Baghdad and as a result, court approvals were obtained for arresting him for the acclaimed crime and seizing medical materials used for injections, cosmetics, and ampoules containing unknown substances,” the Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) posted on Facebook on Sunday.
In addition to the statement, the officials posted a video of a male individual being arrested in what appears to be a cosmetology office in Baghdad. The officials also searched the office, finding syringes of what appear to be fillers, fluid-filled test tubes, and other illegally-obtained medical equipment and supplies.
Later in the video, the security forces also found what appeared to be forged cosmetology permits and injectable medications in glass vials.
The INSS reported the suspect confessed to only having a secondary school degree and has conducted cosmetology courses in his clinic in return for money.
In Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, many beauty salons, plastic surgery and liposuction clinics, and other aesthetic medical offices provide treatments and procedures much cheaper than in regional countries and Europe.
While some of the facilities are licensed, many operate and provide unqualified services, often leaving patients to face uncertain results and increased risks.
In 2022, the head of the Iraqi doctors’ syndicate, Jasim al-Azzawi, attributed the rise in cosmetic surgery-related deaths to the presence of around 400 unlicensed beauty clinics in Baghdad, adding that 190 illegal cosmetic clinics were shut down by authorities the year before.
