25 ‘international’ drug-trafficking networks dismantled in Iraq in 2024: Official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi authorities have disbanded 25 so-called “international” drug-trafficking networks since the start of the year, said an official from the interior ministry on Saturday.

“In cooperation with neighboring countries, 25 international drug-trafficking networks have been dismantled in 2024,” Ziyad Khalaf, an official of the ministry’s drug affairs directorate, told Iraqi state media, adding that extraditions and exchange of information have taken place between the countries.

Iraqi courts have also issued 74 death sentences for suspected drug dealers since the start of the year, according to Khalaf. 

“The number of setences issued during the current year is very high due to the arrest operations… The last three years only witnessed 54 sentences issued,” he added. 

There has been an alarming rise in drug dealing and use in Iraq in recent years, despite strict measures taken by the government to curb the phenomenon.

Miqdad Miri, spokesperson for the interior ministry, announced earlier this month that nearly 2 tons of narcotic substances have been seized across the country since January.

Iraq’s 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.

In a quadrilateral meeting in Amman in mid-February, the interior ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon agreed to establish a joint communications cell to keep up cooperation on addressing the alarming rise of narcotics in their countries.