ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s drug squad announced on Thursday the seizure of 100 kilograms of Captagon pills intended for distribution in Baghdad.
The federal General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance Affairs, “with high-level security cooperation with the Erbil anti-narcotics directorate, thwarted the smuggling of drugs weighing 100 kilograms of narcotic captagon substance in Baghdad,” it said in a Facebook post.
“This operation led to the capture of an international transporter, a foreign national proficient in smuggling narcotic substances,” the directorate said, adding that the suspect had confessed.
Arkan Ali, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics directorate, told Rudaw that the arrest was made based on information they had shared with their Iraqi counterparts.
Drug trade and use is a growing problem in Iraq and the Middle East, especially Captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant.
Iraqi authorities in March said they seized three million Captagon pills.
In the first half of the year, nearly two tons of narcotic substances were seized across the country, the Interior Ministry announced in July.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat drugs with the same determination as it fights terrorism.
In 2023, more than 19,000 people were arrested across Iraq on drug-related charges and over 15 tons of psychotropic substances were seized.
