Kurdistan security arrests two for possession of heroin, methamphetamine
Local security forces tasked with the prevention of illicit drugs in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday announced that they arrested two people in possession of large amounts of both heroin and methamphetamine.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Local security forces tasked with the prevention of illicit drugs in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday announced that they arrested two people in possession of large amounts of both heroin and methamphetamine.
The arrest came after receiving detailed information and subsequent continuous monitoring of the two, according to the security’s drug prevention office in the district of Soran.
“Our forces arrested two; one of them is a resident of Soran who had with him 100 grams of heroin and 50 grams of shisha,” the statement read, using a term sometimes meant for a particular kind of methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth.
“Both suspects are addicted to illicit drugs, and had been previously arrested under article 14 of the Iraqi penal code for consuming and dealing with illicit drugs.”
The office mentioned that the two suspects had confessed that they obtained the drugs in a neighboring town and intended to distribute them in Soran. The large amounts of both drugs in their possession, as well, would strongly suggest that the two intended to sell the substances and that their supply was not just for personal use.
Local security forces routinely confiscate various kinds and amounts of drugs in Soran, with all or almost all being smuggled from Iran.
In November, Kurdish security forces confiscated 31 kilograms of heroin smuggled to Soran from the neighboring country. In 2018, Soran security alone confiscated over 140 kilograms of illegal drugs in total.
Local authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan Region over the past few years had expressed concern over the increasing numbers of drug consumers and traffickers in the region.
In recent years, Iraqi authorities have arrested multiple Iranians and Iraqis for smuggling drugs into Iraq. There are no official statistics on the number of drug-related detainees are in Iraqi jails, nor are there figures on the total number of substance abusers.
Editing by John J. Catherine