The government Thursday said it would prosecute placement agencies recruiting ex-servicemen for security duty in Iraq. Action will be initiated against agencies found violating the Emigration Act, Protector General of Emigrants D S Poonia said.

Private security agencies have allegedly recruited ex-army personnel, ostensibly for jobs in Kuwait and Jordan, and these personnel finally found themselves in the war-ravaged country, working in camps for soldiers of US-led coalition.

"Further interrogations are underway to find out how many people they have sent -- or whether they have sent anybody," Poonja said, adding that after the investigations FIRs would be filed against the company.

To another question, Poonia answered that if these recruited people went to neighbouring countries like Kuwait and Jordan through the porous border, "there will be no way for us to regulate that".