Iraqi authorities seize 36 kg of Captagon, arrest suspected trafficker

NEWSROOM — Iraqi authorities arrested a suspected drug trafficker and seized 36 kilograms of Captagon pills during an operation, the General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs said Tuesday.

The directorate said in a statement that its special investigations teams carried out the operation under the supervision of the Central Investigation Court, following what it described as “a carefully planned ambush that resulted in his arrest in the act.”

The directorate did not specify where the operation took place or provide further information about the suspect.

It said security and intelligence operations targeting drug traffickers would continue. “The directorate continues its security and intelligence operations to pursue drug traffickers,” the statement said, adding that “the hand of the law will reach anyone who seeks to traffic drugs, until their dens are eliminated, their sources are dried up and society is protected from their dangers.”

The latest arrest is part of ongoing anti-drugs efforts. Earlier this month, Iraq’s National Security Service said it arrested three suspected drug dealers and seized a total of about two kilograms of crystal meth in two separate operations in Baghdad and Diyala’s Baquba district.

Iraq has handed down 362 death sentences and 1,500 life terms against convicted drug traffickers since 2023, the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Narcotics Affairs said in June.

The figures come as Iraq faces a deepening drug crisis. 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 inflatables to move drugs across the Anbar border.