Basra court sentences drug trafficker to life in prison

BASRA — The Basra Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced a drug trafficker to life imprisonment for trafficking narcotic substances, according to Iraq’s judiciary.

In a statement, the judiciary said the defendant was arrested in possession of 1 kilogram and 250 grams of methamphetamine intended for trafficking and distribution among users.

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.

Earlier this month, Iraq’s Intelligence Service foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 1 million captagon pills and 100 kilograms of hashish through Iraqi territory to neighboring countries.