BAGHDAD, Jun 14 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi security forces have confiscated 155,000 narcotic pills, in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said, yesterday.
The ministry’s General Directorate of Narcotics Affairs, said in a statement that, the Iraqi security forces seized the Captagon pills, when they raided a farm of a drug dealer in Anbar province, who managed to flee the scene.
The statement did not give further details about the fugitive drug dealer, and when exactly the raid took place.
Earlier, the directorate said, its forces conducted dozens of raids in the capital, Baghdad, and other provinces from Nov, 2022, to May, 2023, during which 8,676 drug dealers and drug users were arrested.
It also said that, more than 406,000 kg of drugs of various kinds, including 9.27 million Captagon pills, as well as 456 weapons, 118 hand grenades and 808 vehicles, were seized during the same period.
Chaos and conflicts that swept the country since the 2003 U.S. invasion, have hindered successive Iraqi governments over the past decades, from properly addressing the threat of drugs to Iraqi society.
However, Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, underlined in May, the importance of waging a “war on drugs,” calling it as important as combating terrorism.
Drug dealing is one of the main ways to fund terrorism, and the circulation of drugs thrives in the shadow of terrorism, al-Sudani said.
