Anti-narcotics units seize crystal meth, dismantle two networks in Babil and Basra

BASRA — Iraqi anti-narcotics authorities dismantled two local drug trafficking networks and seized 3.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in separate operations in Babil and Basra governorates, the Interior Ministry said.

The Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs said the operations relied on intelligence efforts. Four suspects were arrested and found in possession of various firearms before being referred to the judiciary.

Iraq’s judiciary issued 26 death sentences against drug traffickers in the first quarter of 2026 alone. The country has evolved from a transit corridor into both a consumer market and redistribution hub, with traffickers increasingly using sophisticated cross-border networks and, in some cases, GPS-equipped balloons to move drugs across the Anbar border. Between January and August 2024, courts issued 140 death sentences and 500 life sentences in trafficking cases, with 3,006 arrests recorded in the first quarter of 2025.