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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle 400,000 Captagon pills across the Euphrates from Syria into Iraqi territory, the interior ministry announced on Monday.
“The operation was carried out using advanced thermal cameras, and the drugs were hidden inside tightly-sealed plastic jerry cans,” ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri said in a statement.
The narcotics were being smuggled from Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, according to the statement.
In mid-March, the Iraqi interior ministry announced the seizure of a truck packed with some 1,100 kilograms of Captagon pills coming from Syria towards Iraq through Turkey.
Also in March, Iraq’s narcotics control directorate reported that Baghdad has seized some 1.75 tons of illicit substances since the beginning of 2025 and made 2,000 arrests in the process.
Three months prior, in December, the narcotics directorate revealed that a total of six tons and 183 kilograms of illicit drugs were seized in 2024, with 14,483 suspects arrested. Among these, 144 individuals have been sentenced to death for international drug smuggling, while 454 local dealers were sentenced to life in prison - a term of 20 years.
Saad Maan, the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, told Rudaw in February that drug trafficking is “the most widespread crime” in Iraq, highlighting that Erbil and Baghdad are working jointly and with regional neighbours to address the issue.
Maan also said that “drugs are almost exclusively imported” into Iraq and that there have been “failed attempts” to manufacture crystal methamphetamine and Captagon - the most commonly used types of psychotropic substances - within the country.
The drug trade, especially Captagon, is a growing concern in the Middle East, including Iraq.
Syria, under fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad, was a major source for the Captagon trade. The drug was one of the power cards used by the Assad regime for political leverage and his brother Maher is believed to have been largely behind the illegal business. With the collapse of his rule, observers have urged the international community to end the Captagon trade among the prerequisites for providing relief to the new Syria leadership.
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