Iraq Customs Seize 45,000 Drug Pills Smuggled From Syria
Authorities uncover concealed shipment inside empty tanker at Al-Waleed border crossing and arrest driver
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Iraq's General Customs Authority announced Thursday that customs officers at the Al-Waleed border crossing, in coordination with the Directorate of Narcotics Affairs, had seized 45,000 drug pills being smuggled into Iraq from Syria.
According to a statement issued by the authority on Thursday, August 13, 2026, the operation was carried out following the receipt of detailed intelligence.
Security forces conducted a thorough inspection of an empty tanker arriving in Iraq from the Syrian Arab Republic and discovered a concealed compartment containing the drugs.
The 45,000 pills had reportedly been carefully hidden inside the tanker in an attempt to smuggle them into Iraq and distribute them in cities across the country.
Iraq's Customs Authority said the tanker driver was arrested and the seized drugs were confiscated.
The suspect, along with the seized items, was handed over to the relevant judicial authorities for legal proceedings.
The authority also reaffirmed that it would continue intensified monitoring and inspections at Iraq's border crossings to prevent the smuggling of narcotics, protect national security, and safeguard public health.
Iraq has increasingly emerged as an important transit point in the regional drug trade, with its geographic position linking trafficking routes from Southwest Asia and the Middle East to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond.
UNODC research found that seizures of Captagon in Iraq increased by nearly 3,380 percent between 2019 and 2023, with Iraqi authorities seizing more than 4.1 tons of the amphetamine-type stimulant in 2023 alone.
The agency has warned that Iraq's long borders, persistent security challenges and the presence of cross-border criminal networks have made border provinces particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
Syria has historically been a major source of Captagon trafficking in the region. UNODC data indicates that between 2019 and 2023, about 82 percent of seized Captagon consignments for which the origin could be identified were traced to Syria.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024, Syrian authorities moved to dismantle the country's industrial-scale drug infrastructure, but UNODC says trafficking networks have adapted and other synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine, are becoming an increasing concern across the region.