ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi authorities on Friday said they have inflicted “heavy losses” on drug-traffickers in the country in 2025, arresting over 1,500 local and foreign suspects since the start of the year.

Authorities have detained at least 1,365 suspected drug-traffickers of Iraqi nationality and 194 foreign-nationals during the first three months of 2025, revealed the General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.

Additionally, over 2.1 tons of narcotic substances have been seized during that same period, according to the directorate’s spokesperson Hussein al-Tamimi, vowing even stronger crackdowns in the coming period.

“The coming period will be stronger and more intense in striking transport and smuggling lines and drying up sources [of narcotics], using modern and advanced methods and means,” Tamimi told state media.

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.