Iraq, Kuwait seize 34 kg of Captagon in joint operation

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday that a joint security operation with Kuwait led to the seizure of 34 kilograms of Captagon inside Kuwaiti territory, part of a broader campaign targeting narcotics trafficking across the region.

In a statement, the ministry said the General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances had carried out multiple operations in the past 24 hours, resulting in the confiscation of more than 85 kilograms of illegal drugs.

In Kirkuk, working in coordination with the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, authorities seized 51 kilograms of Captagon in what was described as a “precise intelligence operation.”

Elsewhere in the country, anti-narcotics units in Baghdad’s Karkh district arrested a suspect in possession of three kilograms of crystal meth. In Salah Al-Din province, security forces confiscated 25,000 Captagon pills, while in Anbar, three suspects were arrested after a pursuit conducted with local police.

The ministry also cited a recent incident on Sept. 27 in which Iraqi border guards intercepted a balloon carrying narcotics across the frontier, seizing 95,000 Captagon pills in what they called an unusual smuggling attempt.

Captagon trafficking has become a growing concern in Iraq, which officials say is increasingly being targeted as both a transit corridor and consumer market for synthetic drugs. Authorities have intensified cooperation with regional partners, including Syria, Lebanon, and now Kuwait.

On July 30, Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari announced the dismantling of a major cross-border trafficking ring and the seizure of more than 1.35 million Captagon pills in a joint operation with Syrian security forces. That raid was based on Iraqi judicial warrants and was described by the ministry as a major blow to one of the region’s most dangerous trafficking networks.