Erbil security arrest 4 suspected drug dealers, confiscate 80 bricks of narcotics

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Erbil Anti-Drug Directorate on Monday announced the arrest of a four-person team of drug dealers along with 80 bricks of narcotics in the Kurdistan Region capital.

“The security forces of the Kurdistan Region’s capital arrested a group of four individuals who were dealing narcotics in the city of Erbil and planning to smuggle 80 bricks of drugs abroad,” the directorate said in a statement.

The statement alleged further that the group was intending to turn the Kurdistan Region into a landbridge from where it could smuggle close to 40 kilograms of banned substances abroad, without indicating where to.

The arrest reportedly took place when the four persons were conducting a transaction involving the narcotics.

The directorate also claimed that one of the four individuals is an Iranian national.

The sale and consumption of any narcotics or controlled medications are strictly forbidden in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

A statement from the directorate in 2019 mentioned that the most commonly trafficked drug security forces intercept is heroin. The rest include methamphetamine, "crystal." opium, hashish, and tablets of tramadol, an addictive pain medication.

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. Most of it is smuggled into the country through its porous border with Iran, on its way to Turkey, Syria, and ultimately Europe and North America.

Editing by Khrush Najari