Iraqi authorities arrested a suspected drug trafficker and seized 11.5 kilograms of marijuana in a joint operation involving Diyala province and anti-narcotics units in Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.[1] Diyala’s drug affairs directorate announced the arrest and the 11.5 kg seizure on Monday, 25 May 2026.[2] The directorate said the man was caught after a tight tracking and surveillance operation and that the marijuana was found in his possession.[2] It said the operation followed intelligence gathered by the Diyala directorate and field movements.[2]

In its statement, the directorate called it a qualitative security strike based on intelligence work and field tracking.[3] The spokesman for the General Directorate of Narcotics, Abbas al-Bahdli, said the detainee was a local drug dealer who had been wanted by the judiciary.[4] He said the man had intended to trade the marijuana.[4] The Interior Ministry said legal measures had been taken against him under Iraqi law.[1]

Gulan Media, citing ministry officials, said Kurdish and Iraqi agencies shared intelligence and tracked the suspect across several areas before his detention.[5] Authorities described the operation as part of a broader campaign against trafficking routes linking the Kurdistan Region with central Iraq and neighbouring countries.[5] Interior Ministry figures put the drugs seized nationwide in the first five months of 2026 at more than 1.697 tonnes and said anti-narcotics units carried out 12 operations outside Iraq with regional and international agencies.[1] The ministry said Iraqi courts issued 42 death sentences and 357 life sentences against drug traffickers in the same period.[1]