ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Sulaimani’s internal security forces (Asayish) announced arresting two suspected drug dealers following armed clashes on Monday.
Clashes erupted between the suspects and officers of the anti-narcotics directorate on Monday morning in western Sulaimani’s Sarchinar neighborhood, according to a statement from Asayish.
“Following the clashes, they [Asayish] were able to arrest two drug dealers after they were wounded, and also confiscated over 14 kilograms of crystal narcotics,” read the statement.
At least one Asayish member was wounded in the skirmish.
Drug trafficking and use has been on the rise in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq since the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Kurdish security forces have arrested more than 1,000 people on drug-related charges in the Kurdistan Region in the first half of this year with more than half of them in Sulaimani province.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, during a conference on combating the spread of drugs in October, said that the Region is “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.
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