ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Monday announced thwarting a major drug smuggling attempt, seizing more than one million Captagon pills and around 100 kilograms of other narcotics, and arresting all members of the network in coordination with authorities in Sulaimani.

“The NIS successfully foiled an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of narcotics through Iraqi territory to neighboring countries,” in coordination with the Supreme Judicial Council, the service announced in a statement.

The operation resulted in the seizure of “more than one million Captagon pills and 100 kilograms of hashish, as well as the arrest of all members of the network.”

The network included Iraqi and foreign members who were identified based on “precise intelligence,” leading to arrests across several provinces, according to the statement.

The operation was carried out alongside the Sulaimani-based Zanyari Intelligence Service, as well as the province’s anti-narcotics directorate.

In January, Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) announced arresting more than 800 individuals on drug-related charges in 2025, in addition to seizing hundreds of kilograms of narcotic substances. The numbers from INSS do not account for all of Iraq’s drug-related arrests and seizures, as multiple official bodies work on combating the spread of narcotics.

Meanwhile, more than 2,700 suspects were arrested on drug-related charges across the Kurdistan Region in the past year, Arkan Bibani, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics directorate, told The New Region in mid-February.

Despite imposing severe penalties, Iraq continues to face an escalating drug problem that has intensified since the US invasion in 2003. Iraq's stringent narcotics laws, which impose death or life sentences for drug-related offenses, are a response to the severity of the crisis but have yet to curb the increasing drug use and trafficking fully.

According to the World Police Summit held in the United Arab Emirates in May 2025, Iraq ranked third in combating narcotics, with India in first place and Montenegro coming second. The summit evaluated 138 countries and 205 government and non-government organizations.