Iraq confiscates 250,000 Captagon pills ‘inside a school’

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi security forces confiscated 250,000 Captagon tablets inside a school under construction in Iraq’s western Anbar province, according to a government statement on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Interior announced the seizure of the narcotics along with a kilogram of Hashish, another name for marijuana, inside a school that is currently under revitalization in Anbar’s Ramadi, per the statement.

Captagon pills, a brand name for an amphetamine-like stimulant, are one of the most widely trafficked drugs in Iraq. It is believed that most of the low-cost drugs are produced in war-torn Syria and widely trafficked to the Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among others.

Users feel mild euphoria after taking Captagon pills. The use of the drug leads to various health problems, including blood pressure, hallucinations, and blurred vision. Irritability and fatigue are also the two most common withdrawal symptoms of Captagon.

Iraq last year announced the confiscation of one of the largest batches of the pill, estimated to be over six million tablets. Paragliders, seized by the government, had been used to transport the drugs into Iraq’s neighboring countries.

The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics forces have recently announced that over 940 people had been arrested in the last five months this year for drug trafficking.

The Kurdish security forces have tightened measures at border crossings as well as urban centers. They have recently launched a raid on the cafés and restaurants in the capital Erbil, where they had taken samples from hookah tobacco to investigate the presence of any illicit drugs.