Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Interior Ministry dismantled an international drug trafficking network and seized 260 kilograms of captagon pills in an operation that began in a neighboring country and ended in the Kurdistan Region’s Al-Sulaymaniyah province, the ministry said on Friday.

The operation, carried out jointly by the Rusafa and Al-Sulaymaniyah anti-narcotics directorates, led to the arrest of two suspects, including a foreign national.

It took place four months ago but was not disclosed at the time for intelligence and investigative reasons, allowing authorities to track the network’s connections, trafficking routes, and other members.

Earlier this week, Iraqi security forces arrested a suspected drug dealer in Al-Sulaymaniyah and seized three kilograms of narcotics, including one kilogram of hallucinogenic mushrooms and two kilograms of marijuana, according to the Interior Ministry.

In the first six months of 2026, Iraqi security forces broke up 378 drug trafficking networks, 59 of them operating internationally, and seized more than 1,977 kilograms of narcotics, Interior Ministry figures show. Iraqi courts also convicted 3,553 people in drug-related cases during the period, handing down 58 death sentences and 236 life sentences.

Read more: The Smuggler's Almanac: Iraq's war against narco-innovation