Iraq arrests man it calls top trafficker, seizes 32 kg of Captagon

ANBAR — Iraqi anti-narcotics police said Tuesday they had arrested a man they described as one of the country’s leading drug traffickers and seized 32 kilograms of Captagon being prepared for smuggling abroad.

The General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs said the arrest came during an operation near the Arar border crossing in Anbar governorate, after a period of surveillance and intelligence-gathering. The Arar border crossing links Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

The suspect, whom the directorate called a “godfather of drug smuggling,” was detained as he allegedly tried to move the shipment to a neighboring country, it said.

The directorate said legal measures had been taken and the case referred to the judiciary. It described the operation as part of its continuing effort to break up trafficking networks and stop narcotics moving within Iraq and across its borders.

Iraq has reported a run of major counter-narcotics operations this year. In January, the Interior Ministry said it had dismantled an international drug manufacturing and trafficking network in coordination with Syria, seizing about 2.5 million Captagon pills and arresting suspects in both countries. In April, Iraqi and Syrian authorities said they seized 1 million Captagon pills and broke up another network that had allegedly planned to distribute the drugs inside Iraq.

In May, Iraq’s Intelligence Service said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 1 million Captagon pills and 100 kilograms of hashish through the country, while military intelligence reported seizing more than 81,000 narcotic pills in the Anbar desert. Officials have described Iraq as both a transit route and a redistribution hub for regional drug trafficking, and Iraqi courts handed down 26 death sentences for drug traffickers in the first quarter of 2026, according to figures previously reported by 964media.