Kurdistan’s security confiscate illicit pills, opium smuggled from abroad

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The local security forces for the prevention of illicit drugs in the Kurdistan Region on Sunday announced the confiscation of pills and opium smuggled from a neighboring country.

The security’s drug prevention office in Soran said in a statement that they had arrested a local in possession of over 1,722 Tramadol pills.

“The person who was a consumer of illicit drugs had a role in spreading the pill,” the statement read.

It also mentioned the person had been sent to court.

Similarly, in Sulaimani, security forces confiscated over one kilogram of opium which was hidden and covered inside hygiene products like deodarant sticks.

“The opium was covered with a specific type of paper inside the hygiene products to avoid detection from security machines,” Jalal Aminbegg, the director of Sulaimani drug prevention, told reporters on Sunday during a press conference.

The way the drugs were packaged and hidden inside those products is a sign drug trafficking occurs in the Kurdistan Region, and that the drugs are being sent abroad, he said.

Aminbegg noted that the opium was smuggled from a neighboring country, but did not reveal the name of the country.

A security source who spoke to Kurdistan 24 on condition of anonymity said almost all the illicit drugs confiscated in the Kurdistan Region comes from Iran.

Aminbegg called on people to contact security offices if they witness suspicious drug activities.

Security offices and the local organizations in the autonomous Kurdistan Region have expressed concerns of a considerable rise in drug traffickers and consumers over the past few years.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany