Kurdish security seize nearly 50 kg of heroin near Iranian border

Kurdish drug-prevention security forces confiscated 48.7 kilograms of narcotics near the Iranian border on Saturday.

The shipment of heroin was seized near the Kurdistan Region’s town of Haji Omaran, according to the drug-prevention directorate, which is part of the General Security Directorate of Erbil.

The raid was conducted based on “prior information,” and resulted in clashes between the drug dealers and security forces in the area, the drug-prevention directorate said in a statement released on Sunday.

The statement did not mention whether security forces had arrested anyone in possession of the drugs.

Kurdish and Iraqi authorities often intercept shipments of drugs passing through Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the provinces of Basra, Diyala, Erbil, and Sulaimani.

Last month, security forces arrested a band of drug traffickers and seized over 45 kilograms of heroin.

Most of it is smuggled into the country through its porous border with Iran and can include heroin, opium, marijuana, methamphetamines, and pills on their way to Turkey, Syria, and ultimately Europe and North America.

Local activists and authorities have also warned of the rise in drug consumption and trafficking within the country itself.