Kurdish anti-narcotics arrest 3 drug dealers

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics agency on Saturday announced that its forces had arrested three drug dealers along with confiscating a few kilograms of methamphetamine.

Three dealers, who had secretly hidden five kilograms of the illicit drug inside a vehicle, were arrested on Friday night, per the statement.

The arrest was made based on a prior intelligence the directorate had gathered, it added, saying the dealers intended to “spread and sell” the narcotics in Erbil.

The Kurdistan Region forces have ramped up arrest and confiscation efforts in a bid in recent years to crack down on the spread of the drugs.

In late December, the Directorate announced that it had confiscated over 10 million Captagon pills in a year.

Drug trafficking and use have seen a surge in Iraq, particularly in recent decades.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior on Thursday announced that seven thousand people were tried on drug-related charges in 2023 only.

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 high blood pressure, hallucinations, and blurred vision. Irritability and fatigue are also the two most common withdrawal symptoms of Captagon.

In July this year, the Iraqi security forces found a Captagon lab in Muthana province "for the first time," an Iraqi interior ministry spokesperson said at the time.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in mid-October held a Conference on Combating Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in the presence of several faith community leaders, security officials, and regional and Western diplomats to discuss the issue.