ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi security forces dismantled a drug-trafficking network and seized 200,000 Captagon pills in a joint operation with UAE anti-narcotics authorities, the Iraqi interior ministry announced Friday, as Baghdad continues to coordinate with countries across the region to combat drug trafficking.

Taking place inside UAE territory, the operation was carried out by Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances in coordination with the UAE’s National Anti-Narcotics Agency.

The forces “successfully seized 200,000 Captagon pills and apprehended those involved in the case within the UAE,” according to the ministry’s statement.

Iraq’s anti-narcotics department emphasized that combating the spread of drugs is “no longer merely a local issue; rather, it is a security challenge that demands comprehensive international partnership transcending national borders.”

The ministry attributed the operation’s success to the authorities’ ability to “translate accurate intelligence into proactive measures that pursue transnational drug trafficking networks, restrict their movements, and disrupt their routes before they can reach their intended destinations.”

With its extensive borders with Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, Iraq has become a major transit route for drug trafficking, leading Iraqi authorities to often partner with regional and international countries to combat the phenomenon.

In a similar cross-border operation in October, Iraqi and Libyan authorities thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1.2 million Captagon pills into Libya, and arrested a Libyan national suspected of involvement.

Meanwhile in August, Iraqi security forces dismantled an international drug smuggling network in its territorial waters, seizing 90 kg of narcotics and arresting three suspects involved in the matter.

In May, Iraq’s interior ministry revealed that it had seized more than one and a half tons of narcotics since the beginning of 2026, and issued more than 40 death sentences.

In January, Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) said it arrested 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.

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.