ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics department announced on Wednesday the arrest of 16 drug traffickers and seizure of 82 kilograms of narcotics in a two-week-long campaign.

 

“In the course of the past two weeks, the anti-narcotics department, in coordination with the directorate’s offices in Duhok and Zakho, [16] drug traffickers were arrested,” reads a statement from the department, adding the suspects “had been involved in trafficking and dealing with drugs, with some of the traffickers being foreigners.”

 

It added that 82 kilograms of narcotics were seized during the same period, including “22.940 grams of crystal, 1.440 grams of heroin, 50 grams of tramadol pills.”

 

The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics department detailed that they had also coordinated with the Iraqi government in the seizure of over one ton of Captagon pills that had been brought to Iraq from Syria via Turkey, as announced by Baghdad earlier this week.

 

The Kurdistan Region’s authorities have time and again expressed their commitment to combatting the spread of narcotics in the Region.

Iraq, with its extensive borders with Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, has evolved from a transit route to a significant drug consumption market.

 

Despite consecutive government cabinet pledges to fight the drug phenomena in the country and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani having ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers across all Iraqi provinces, the country’s infrastructure is still too weak to combat the rapid increase in drug use.

 

Iraqi authorities arrested around 14,500 suspects on drug-related charges in 2024 and issued death sentences for 144 suspected drug traffickers. At least 454 others were sentenced to perpetual imprisonment (20 years in Iraqi law), according to official data.