Anbar court gives man life sentence over 4,000 Captagon pills

ANBAR– An Anbar criminal court on Monday sentenced a defendant to life in prison for possessing 4,000 Captagon pills with the intent to distribute them among users, the judiciary’s media office said.

The court handed down the ruling under Article 28/1 of Iraq’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law No. 50 of 2017.

Drugs remain a major challenge in Iraq, which has shifted from serving mainly as a transit route for narcotics from neighboring countries to becoming both a consumer market and a redistribution hub.

Earlier this month, Iraq’s Military Intelligence Directorate announced the arrest of four people accused of drug trafficking and promotion in the Mahmudiya district of Baghdad.

The General Directorate of Narcotics Affairs reported nationwide seizures of 250 kilograms of drugs and the arrest of 59 “international dealers” in September. In the first quarter of 2025, authorities arrested 3,006 people on drug-related offenses and courts issued 973 sentences, according to an April report.

Between January and August 2024, Iraqi courts issued 140 death sentences and 500 life sentences in narcotics cases, reflecting the judiciary’s continued use of the harshest penalties against high-level drug offenders.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani opened the Third Baghdad International Conference on Drug Control, presenting the gathering as a cornerstone of Iraq’s national and regional strategy to confront narcotics.