Iraqi tip-off leads to seizure of 1.2 million Captagon pills in Libya

BAGHDAD — Intelligence passed by Iraq to Libyan authorities led to the seizure of 1.2 million Captagon pills and the arrest of a Libyan national in a joint operation inside Libya, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Sunday.

Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances worked with Libya’s National Anti-Narcotics Agency to intercept the shipment before it could be sold, the ministry said. The intelligence came from the directorate’s Department of International Coordination and Cooperation and allowed the two countries to draw up and carry out a joint plan. The ministry did not say where in Libya the seizure took place or give details about the suspect.

“Combating drugs requires a security partnership that crosses borders,” the directorate said.

Iraq has carried out several cross-border counter-narcotics operations this year. In April, Iraqi and Syrian authorities said they had seized 1 million Captagon pills and broken up a network planning to distribute them inside Iraq, and a joint operation in January seized about 2.5 million pills, with arrests in both countries. In May, the National Intelligence Service intercepted more than 1 million Captagon pills and 100 kilograms of hashish being smuggled through Iraq to neighboring countries, arresting Iraqi and foreign nationals across several governorates.

Iraqi authorities dismantled 1,538 drug trafficking networks between 2023 and 2026, including 234 transnational ones, and carried out 61 operations outside Iraq, the Interior Ministry said in April.