ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq has carried out joint intelligence-led anti-drug operations in seven Arab and regional countries, making it one of the leading Arab countries in combating drugs beyond its borders, the head of Iraq's narcotics directorate said on Monday.
Operations were conducted in coordination with security agencies in Kuwait, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya and relied on "accurate intelligence provided by Iraqi agencies" to track international smuggling networks and seize large quantities of drugs, Ahmed Saleh al-Zarkani, director general of the Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, told the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA).
"Iraq has become one of the leading Arab countries in carrying out specialized operations to combat drugs outside its borders, in coordination with the competent authorities in sister and friendly countries," he stated.
The operations come amid an ongoing nationwide crackdown on narcotics in Iraq. The UNODC highlighted Iraq in a July 2024 report as an increasingly important hub for regional drug trafficking, with Captagon seizures rising nearly 3,380 percent between 2019 and 2023, reaching more than 4.1 tons in 2023 alone.
The seizures outside Iraq totaled around nine tons, including Captagon, crystal methamphetamine and hashish, Zarkani said.
He also pointed to the seizure of 20 kilograms of marijuana in an unnamed neighboring country, saying specialized teams from the directorate had been deployed to coordinate with local authorities and carry out the necessary security measures.
"These operations reflect the development of Iraq's intelligence capabilities and the directorate's ability to reach criminal networks beyond the borders, rather than limiting efforts to pursuing their activities inside the country," he said.
Zarkani underscored the latest external operation carried out in Libya, “based entirely on Iraqi intelligence monitoring,” which “resulted in the seizure of 1.2 million narcotic pills," adding that the drugs belonged to a criminal network operating from Chad. He also underlined trust and exchange of information underpinning international cooperation, alongside developing technical and field capabilities to carry out preemptive operations against criminal networks before drugs reach the market.
Separately, Ahmed al-Rikabi, director general of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs in Iraq said drug trafficking in Iraq had declined by 60 percent, while authorities had dismantled 2,013 drug networks since 2023, INA reported.
"We began developing a strategy to improve the work of the anti-narcotics agency in 2023," Rikabi told Al-Iraqiya TV's Al-Mashhad program, confirming that Iraq was pursuing drug networks beyond its borders.
Iraq's international anti-drug operations come in conjunction with intensified domestic crackdowns.
Iraqi security forces on Friday dismantled a trafficking network and arrested 31 suspects in its southern Diwaniyah province.
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri also said that operations between January and October 2026 had resulted in the seizure of approximately 2.8 tons of narcotics and the sentencing of 6,045 defendants.
