Security forces in Najaf “arrested three drug dealers of foreign nationalities, and seized crystal, antidotes, and captagon narcotic pills in their possession,” state media said, adding that the arrests were carried out in a hotel.
In the southern Muthanna province, two dealers were arrested “in possession of narcotic crystal, which they planned to sell.”
There has been an alarming rise in drug dealing and use in Iraq in recent years, despite strict measures taken by the government to curb the phenomenon.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat drugs with the same determination as it fights terrorism.
In 2023, more than 19,000 people were arrested across Iraq on drug-related charges and over 15 tons of psychotropic substances were seized.
The interior ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon held a quadrilateral meeting in Amman in mid-February, and agreed to establish a joint communications cell to keep up cooperation on addressing the alarming rise of narcotics in their countries.
On Monday, a Baghdad court sentenced a foreign drug dealer to death for bringing narcotic substances into the country.
