Iraqi security forces reported the capture of a foreign individual trafficking nearly a million captagon pills, as the nation struggles to control the escalating drug trade.
Iraq is a significant passage for this amphetamine-type drug, with large volumes of captagon often being intercepted, mainly originating from Syria, its neighbor with a 600-kilometer (370 miles) permeable border.
The security authorities in Baghdad detained “an overseas drug trafficker” and confiscated substantial amounts of the drug stashed in a truck that the individual “intended to transport to a province in the north”, as stated in an official release. The nationality of the suspect wasn’t mentioned in the statement.
On July 16, a rare captagon production facility was found in the southern region of the country, as reported by the interior ministry.
This was the inaugural disclosure of such nature in Iraq, a country where drug use has seen a steep increase in recent years, yet local production remains almost non-existent.
Days prior to this, the law enforcement had reported the take-down of an “international drug trafficking ring” and the arrest of three individuals associated with it. During this operation, two million captagon pills were seized in the southern Muthanna province.
