Shafaq News – Baghdad/Dhi Qar/Babil

Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that 5,472 individuals completed drug rehabilitation at state-run centers in the first half of 2025.

In a statement, Brigadier General Muqdad Miri, Director of Relations and Media, highlighted Najaf as the top-performing province with 707 recoveries, attributing the progress to effective medical and counseling teams. He called rehabilitation a “core element” of Iraq’s anti-drug policy.

At the same time, enforcement efforts intensified. In Dhi Qar, a source informed Shafaq News that the Criminal Court sentenced a trafficker to life imprisonment after authorities seized 2 kilograms of narcotics in central al-Nasiriyah.

In Babil, local security forces arrested a suspected dealer during a sting operation after luring him from Amarah, the capital of Maysan province. Al-Shomali subdistrict director Adel Naama told our agency that the suspect was detained without resistance and remains under investigation.