WATCH: Kurdish security arrest 6 Iranians on drug-smuggling charges
Kurdish security arrested six Iranian suspects, including a woman, after over 15 kilograms of illegal ketamine was found hidden in suitcases at the Haji Omran border crossing.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Directorate General of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday said it seized over 15 kilograms of ketamine.
The directorate said in a statement that its officers and employees confiscated more than 15 kilograms of the drug at the Haji Omran border crossing, located on the border with Kurdistan and Iran.
Ketamine, also known as “special K,” is a dissociative drug, which causes the user to experience a detachment of the mind from the body. The illegal substance is sold in powder form and can be sniffed, smoked, injected, or mixed with a liquid. Ketamine is also used in medicine for anesthesia purposes.
Kurdish security arrested six Iranian suspects, including a woman, after the banned substance was found hidden in suitcases, the statement added.
“The defendants represent an organized gang that brought the narcotics through the Haji Omran border area,” the anti-narcotics directorate said, adding the suspects would be referred to the judiciary, and an investigation would be launched against them.
Kurdish and Iraqi authorities often intercept shipments of drugs passing through Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the provinces of Basra, Diyala, Erbil, and Sulaimani.
Last week, the anti-narcotics directorate said it had foiled multiple attempts to smuggle over 15 kilograms of illicit drugs to Canada.
The directorate said in a statement that its detachments seized 9.9 kilograms of “crystal” and an additional 610 grams of opium in two separate operations
Read More: Kurdistan security make arrests in drug bust
In late July, Kurdish security announced they had arrested 651 suspected drug dealers and consumers in the first six months of 2019.
There are no official statistics on the number of people arrested on drug-related charges, nor are there any statistics on the total number of users in Iraq, in general.