ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq's interior ministry on Saturday announced the arrest of three "international" drug dealers and the seizure of five kilograms of crystal meth across multiple operations in Baghdad.

"In two separate security operations, characterized by precise intelligence work and meticulous field surveillance, detachments from the Rusafa Narcotics Affairs Directorate dealt two significant blows to drug trafficking networks in the capital," the ministry's General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances said in a statement.

"During these operations, they apprehended three international traffickers and seized 5 kg of crystal methamphetamine in their possession," the directorate continued.

"These operations followed continuous intelligence efforts and close monitoring of the movements of those involved, which led to identifying their targets, arresting them, and thwarting their plans to distribute and trade these drugs."

In May, the 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.

Iraq is notable for its stringent narcotics laws, which impose death or life sentences for drug-related offenses, yet remains both a key transit route and consumption market for the drug trade in the Middle East.

"Pursuing international trafficking networks, drying up their sources of funding, and dismantling their extensions represents an ongoing security priority," the ministry said.

In addition to unilateral operations, Iraqi security forces routinely conduct joint missions with neighboring countries in a bid to clamp down on cross-border trafficking routes, such as a case in June in which Syrian and Iraqi authorities seized some 200 kilograms of narcotics deep inside Syria's Deir ez-Zor province.

In 2025, the Iraqi interior ministry won first place at an international anti-narcotics competition held in Tunisia, which was organized by the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers as part of the 39th Arab Conference of the Heads of Anti-Narcotics Agencies, which also saw representation from the European Union’s Drugs Agency (EUDA).