Iraqi security forces announced on Saturday the dismantling of two drug trafficking networks and the arrest of ten people, including five nationals of Arab countries, as well as the seizure of six million captagon tablets.
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Read alsoCaptagon traffic exceeds $5 billion in 2021
Iraq, a country bordering Syria and Saudi Arabia in particular, has become an important stage on the route of trafficking in captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant almost exclusively manufactured and consumed in the Middle East.
In a warehouse south-west of Baghdad, the National Security got their hands on "
about 6.2 million tablets
" which were to be sold "
in sectors of Baghdad and in other provinces
", declares this agency in a communicated.
“
Four suspects from Arab countries were arrested
” and their “
confessions
” enabled the arrest of “
three Iraqis who were part of the network
”.
The text evokes the dismantling of a second network thanks to the arrest of a suspect from an unspecified Arab country “
who was in possession of 6 kilos of hashish
”.
Two accomplices were also arrested, the statement added, without specifying their nationality.
The ten defendants "
admitted their links to international drug trafficking networks
".
Convictions for drug trafficking can go as far as the death penalty in Iraq.
The sale and consumption of drugs have exploded in recent years in Iraq, where the security forces have intensified their operations and almost daily announce seizures of narcotics or the arrest of traffickers.
In the largely desert province of Al-Anbar, which shares a long border with Syria, security forces arrested 18 drug traffickers in the first three months of 2022, according to an official source.
These arrests took place mainly in areas directly on the border, including Al-Rutba and Al-Qaim.
Over three million captagon pills were seized during the same period.
In early April, 1.8 million captagon tablets were seized in the Al-Qaim area, according to the same source.
The regions of central and southern Iraq, bordering Iran, are also important routes for the trafficking of crystal meth (synthetic drugs).
Last December, the Interior Ministry's anti-drug unit identified the provinces of Basra and Missane as the main regions in the south in terms of trafficking and consumption.
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