ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi border guard command said on Thursday that they were able to foil an attempt to smuggle illicit pills into the country through balloons.
The attempt was foiled in Anbar province, which borders Syria and Jordan.
The smugglers placed 80,000 pills in small bags and attempted to transport them through Iraqi airspace using balloons, said the Iraqi border guard in a statement.
"The thwarting of this drug smuggling attempt occurred at the triangular border area between Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, and it is assumed that it originated from Syria headed for Iraq. This is the second operation to seize narcotics that were attempted to be smuggled into Iraq using this method,” the border guard’s media office told Rudaw.
On September 24, Iraqi forces seized 245,000 Captagon pills that were attempted to be transported into Iraqi territory via balloon.
The drug trade, especially Captagon, is a growing concern in the Middle East, including Iraq.
Syria, under fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad, was a major source for the Captagon trade. The drug was one of the power cards used by the Assad regime for political leverage and his brother Maher is believed to have been largely behind the illegal business. With the collapse of his rule, observers have urged the international community to end the Captagon trade among the prerequisites for providing relief to the new Syria leadership.
Hastyar Qadir contributed to this article.
