ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces seized 51 kilograms of Captagon pills and arrested two suspects in two separate anti-drug operations, the interior ministry announced on Thursday.
In a statement on social media, the ministry said that its special investigations and covert surveillance units carried out the operations based on intelligence gathering and preemptive security measures.
The raids resulted in the arrest of “two dangerous suspects, one of whom is of Arab nationality, and 51 kilograms of Captagon narcotic pills were seized,” according to the ministry.
Authorities said legal procedures have been completed and the suspects were referred to the judiciary for prosecution.
Iraq has intensified its anti-narcotics campaign in recent years as authorities seek to curb the growing trade and use of illicit drugs. The country is considered both a destination and a transit route for narcotics, particularly Captagon, which is trafficked through the region.
On Monday, Iraqi security forces announced the arrest of a drug dealer in central Baghdad who was found with 14,000 Captagon pills during an intelligence-led operation.
On the same day, authorities also said they had arrested nine suspects in Baghdad and Basra provinces, seizing one kilogram of narcotics, around 1,000 narcotic pills, and a firearm.
In mid-June, Iraqi and Syrian anti-narcotics authorities announced the dismantling of an international drug trafficking network following joint operations inside Syria’s Homs and Deir ez-Zor provinces.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry’s anti-narcotics directorate said at that time its units “moved to execute a series of simultaneous operations inside Syrian territory” in coordination with Syrian counterparts, dismantling a network of nine major traffickers and seizing around 200 kilograms of various narcotics en route to Iraq.
In late April, the interior ministry said it had dismantled 1,538 drug trafficking networks since 2023, leading to 349 death sentences and 1,325 life sentences issued by Iraqi courts.
According to data from the General Directorate of Narcotics Control released in early May, 37 people convicted in drug-related cases have been sentenced to death, 173 have received life sentences, and 2,288 others have received varying prison terms.
