In a statement, the Asayish said they seized a plot of land in Halabja where 65 cannabis plants were being grown for the purpose of trafficking.
The three people arrested were also in possession of a “large amount of drugs” readied for sale, the Asayish stated.
The plants were subsequently destroyed “in a scientific manner,” according to the statement.
Drug trafficking and use have been on the rise in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
So far this year, the Kurdistan Region’s security forces have arrested 1,060 people across the Region on drug-related charges and seized hundreds of kilograms of drugs, according to official statistics.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, during a conference on combatting the drug trade last month, said that the Region was “seriously and widely working to eradicate and combat” the threat of drugs, and called on the Kurdish and international community to cooperate with Erbil to eliminate the source of what he described an “endemic” problem.
In Iraq, around 15,000 suspects were arrested and more than 400 kilograms of narcotics were confiscated in 2022.
