ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s border authorities announced Friday that they seized over 4,500 Captagon pills from a foreign traveler who was attempting to cross into Iraq from Iran via the southern Shalamcheh border crossing.

"The Shalamcheh border crossing directorate was able to arrest a foreign traveler who was found in possession of 4,575 narcotic pills hidden inside [an electric power] hacksaw, in a failed attempt to smuggle them into the country,” Iraq’s state media quoted Alaa al-Din al-Qaisi, spokesperson for the Border Ports Commission, as saying.

He added that the narcotics were detected following a joint inspection by the technical and narcotics divisions of the border crossing and the Customs Police.

“The individual and the seized items were referred to the Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances in Basra to take appropriate legal action against him.”

Just five days ago, at the same border crossing, authorities managed to seize 1.409 grams of crystal meth that had been hidden inside an oxygen capsule. 

Captagon, the brand name for the amphetamine-type psychostimulant fenethylline, has gained popularity among drug users, with authorities interdicting myriad smugglers and seizing millions of pills entering the country last year.

Iraq, with its extensive borders with Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, has evolved from a transit route to a significant drug consumption market. The country has become a drug manufacturing hub, according to a 2022 report by the Washington Institute.

Iraqi security forces have arrested over 1,500 drug traffickers during the first three months of this year, including 194 internationals, while seizing over two tons of narcotics.

Despite consecutive government cabinet pledges to combat the drug phenomenon in the country and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani having ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers across all provinces, Iraq’s infrastructure remains too weak to address 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.