Baghdad drone workshop broken up before production began, NSS says

BAGHDAD — The National Security Service said it had stopped an attempt to manufacture drones in Baghdad, arresting three people and seizing 25 drone frames and the workshop itself before any were completed.

“The National Security Service managed to thwart an attempt to manufacture drones in Baghdad, and three suspects were arrested,” spokesperson Arshad al-Hakim said at a Security Media Cell news conference reviewing the agency’s first half of 2026. Authorities “seized 25 drone frames, as well as a workshop related to this case, and thwarted the operation before it was completed,” he said. He did not name the suspects, say what the drones were for, or say whether they were linked to any group.

It is the fifth drone case in Baghdad and its surroundings this month. Security forces seized more than 20 locally made drones in Rusafa on Aug. 13 and arrested four people accused of trading them; police found 15 camera drones on a delivery motorcycle in Karrada two days later; intelligence and counterterrorism forces dismantled a network planning attacks with explosive-laden drones on Aug. 9; and military intelligence seized drones along with mortar rounds, rockets and grenades in Maysan on Aug. 22.

The Supreme Judicial Council instructed courts in June to apply the Anti-Terrorism Law to anyone manufacturing, holding or using illegal drones for unlawful purposes, after repeated attacks on military, political and energy targets.