Foreign traveler arrested at Shalamcheh border for smuggling crystal meth in bread

BASRA — Iraqi authorities arrested a foreign traveler at the Shalamcheh border crossing on Saturday after seizing 1.45 kilograms of crystal meth hidden inside slices of bread and a sealed metal pipe, officials said, amid a wider crackdown on drug trafficking.

“The Shalamcheh Border Directorate arrested a foreign traveler and seized 1.450 kilograms of crystal meth hidden in two ways — inside a closed metal pipe and inside pieces of toast — in a failed attempt to smuggle the drugs into the country,” the directorate said in a statement.

The arrest was made through a coordinated effort between the technical division, anti-narcotics unit and Shalamcheh customs police. The suspect and seized drugs were transferred to the Directorate of Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances for legal action.

The arrest comes as Iraq intensifies its anti-narcotics campaign. On Friday, the Anti-Narcotics Directorate said authorities had seized more than two tons of narcotics and arrested over 1,500 suspected traffickers in the first quarter of 2025.

“The General Directorate of Narcotics Affairs, now directly linked to Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, has inflicted heavy losses on both international and domestic drug traffickers,” spokesperson Hussein Youssef al-Tamimi said.

He said 2.156 tons of drugs were seized and 1,559 people arrested so far this year, including 194 foreign traffickers and 1,365 local dealers. Al-Tamimi added that operations have expanded to the regional and international level, and promised tougher actions using advanced surveillance and enforcement methods.