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Given its long and porous borders with Iran and Syria, Iraq faces an unprecedented epidemic of illegal narcotics.
In June 2024, a force from Baghdad Operations Command arrested 18 suspects on charges of drug trafficking and possession of weapons without permits. They were found with drones, unregistered vehicles, machine guns, other weapons and a variety of drugs.
According to the Iraqi Anti-Narcotic General Authority (IANGA), crystal methamphetamine is the most widespread substance, taken by 37% of Iraqi drug users, while Captagon users constitute about 35% of drug users.
“The Anti-Narcotic General Authority in the Ministry of Interior carried out, during the first half of year 2024, several preemptive security operations against drug traffickers and drug dealers and all those involved in such crimes,” said public affairs officer Hussein Al-Tamimi.
“These operations resulted in the dismantling of major drug trafficking networks, the seizure of more than one and a half tons of various types of narcotic substances, and approximately 10 tons of psychotropic substances, and the arrest of approximately 7,000 people involved in drug crimes.”
Iraq’s security agencies have not relied solely on punitive measures to mitigate drug use and trafficking. The Ministry of Interior opened 16 rehabilitation centers in the Iraqi governorates to minimize the impact of drugs on society.
Crystal methamphetamine is smuggled into Iraq from Iran through Iraq’s southeastern border while tablets of the stimulant Captagon come from Syria through Iraq’s northwestern border.
The rising production, trafficking and consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants in the form of Captagon tablets and crystal methamphetamine is of particular concern not only to the government of Iraq but also to governments and societies across the Middle East.
In February 2024, Jordan hosted a meeting for the interior ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, culminating in the formation of a joint communication cell to coordinate, unify efforts, and exchange information on combating cross-border drug trafficking.
“Iraq and neighboring countries have documented a sharp increase in the trafficking and use of Captagon over the past five years … Captagon seizures have increased by almost 3,380 percent in Iraq from 2019 to 2023,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported.
Committed to Iraq’s security and stability, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has been providing technical assistance to Iraqi law enforcement agencies to address organized crime and drug trafficking.
Sources: Asharq Al-Awsat, baghdadtoday.news, Sky News, U.N.