DUBAI, UAE - Iraq’s Central Investigation Court in Baghdad’s Rusafa announced Thursday the seizure of more than one ton of narcotics in operations conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior since the start of the year through mid-October.

Judge Walid Ibrahim, who oversees drug-related cases in the Rusafa court, told the judiciary’s al-Qadhaa newspaper that authorities confiscated hundreds of kilograms of drugs during the period. “These quantities were seized between January 2 and October 17 of this year,” Ibrahim said.

The court issued 75 death sentences, including six for foreign nationals, and 20 perpetual imprisonment sentences (up to 20 years in Iraqi law) during this period for drug-related charges, he added. The seizures included 229 kilograms of crystal meth, 843 kilograms of captagon pills, 51 kilograms of hashish, and 100 grams of psychotropic substances.

In one operation, authorities arrested six individuals who were later sentenced to death. Ibrahim said the arrests followed a sting operation in which a drug-trafficker was lured into transporting 30 kilograms of crystal meth from Sulaimani to Basra.

In another case, a 21-year-old dealer was arrested after receiving 57 kilograms of captagon pills. Authorities set up an ambush at the handoff, which involved foreign suppliers. The suspect was later convicted and sentenced to death, according to the judge.

Ibrahim also detailed a major raid on a facility south of Lake Darbandikhan in the Kurdistan Region, where 151 kilograms of drugs were confiscated. The facility, disguised as a tire factory, housed equipment to manufacture captagon pills and crystal meth. A 4,000-liter tank of amphetamine, the primary ingredient for the pills, was also found.

Authorities believe a 100-kilogram shipment from the factory was smuggled to Gulf nations before the raid, which was conducted after securing official approval.