ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - This year, Iraq seized over six tons of drugs and arrested more than 14,000 suspects on drug-related charges, the counter-narcotics directorate announced on Saturday. Drug smuggling into the country, however, has dramatically dropped with the fall of the regime in neighbouring Syria and a tightening of the border.
A total of six tons and 183 kilograms of illicit drugs were seized while 14,483 suspects were arrested on drug related charges in 2024, the directorate stated.
Iraq’s judiciary has handed down strict sentences for drug-related crime.
Out of the 14,438 arrests, 144 people have been sentenced to death for international drug smuggling and 454 local dealers were sentenced to life in prison, a term of 20 years.
Additionally, 11 suspects were killed and 33 were injured in clashes with security forces. The counter-narcotics directorate reported that three of their forces were also killed and 31 were injured.
The United Nations has previously warned that Iraq has become a regional hub for drug trafficking and the government in Baghdad has pledged to fight it like it combats terrorism.
About 90% of the narcotics smuggled into Iraq is Captagon coming in from its western border with Syria. After the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in early December, Iraq tightened its security along the 600-kilometre border with Syria, closing off the route.
“Drug smuggling operations across the border have completely decreased and there is no entry of drugs into Iraq,” Turki Muhammad Khalaf, district mayor of al-Qaim, told Rudaw.
“The al-Qaim region is a border area and smuggling used to take place across the territory, but when the borders were closed, the entry of drugs ended,” Khalaf explained.
Official figures indicate that 18 million Captagon pills entered Iraq in the first half of 2024 and more than 6,000 Captagon dealers and smugglers were arrested.
Syria became fertile ground for exporting and trading amphetamine-like drugs during its more than 13-year civil war, but the ousting of Assad largely dismantled these networks as the new authorities in Damascus have uncovered the illegal industry that helped sustain Assad’s power.
Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s brother, who was also a military commander, is widely believed to be a key person behind the drug business.
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