10 held as Iraq seizes 6 kg of hashish and 6.2 million captagon pills
Iraq's national security agency said security forces broke up two drug rings in Baghdad and arrested 10 people, among them a man caught with six kilograms of hashish and two accomplices. A separate warehouse raid in the southwest of the capital seized about 6.2 million captagon pills; the hashish alone is counted as cannabis.
Ten people were arrested in the two cases, the national security agency said.[1]One of the rings was broken up when an Arab national was arrested “in
possession of six kilos (13 pounds) of hashish” and two accomplices were
detained.[1]Al Jazeera’s account said three men were arrested with six
kilogrammes (13 pounds) of hashish.[2]All 10 accused “admitted to links with
international drug trafficking networks,” the agency said.[1]
In the other case, Iraqi forces seized “around 6.2 million pills” from a
warehouse in the southwest of the capital.[1]The statement said the drugs
were set for distribution “in areas of Baghdad and other provinces.”[1]Three
Iraqis and four suspects from other Arab countries were arrested in connection
with the trafficking network.[1]
Drug trafficking convictions can be punishable by the death penalty in Iraq.[3]In the first three months of the year, Iraqi security forces detained 18
suspected drug traffickers in the largely desert province of Anbar, which shares
a long border with Syria.[1]More than three million captagon pills were
seized in the same period.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Iraqi intelligence supported joint operations with seven states that seized about nine tons of mixed drugs including hashish. A separately reported 20 kg of marijuana was seized in one unnamed neighbouring country with Iraqi specialist teams.
Iraqi forces intercepted a smuggling boat in territorial waters after 24 hours of surveillance, seizing 90 kg of hashish. Three foreign nationals were detained while a fourth suspect escaped and is being sought.
Iraq's interior ministry said anti-narcotics forces dismantled an international smuggling network in Iraqi territorial waters, seizing 90 kg of hashish and two boats and arresting three suspects including a foreign national. The 16-hour mission from Umm Qasr naval base, announced on 15 August 2026, was described as the first operation of its kind in the depths of Iraq's waters.
The interior ministry said security forces broke up 1,201 trafficking and dealing networks, including 171 international ones, and seized 14 tonnes of narcotics in the three years to November 2025. It counted 23,118 court judgments in drug cases, among them 300 death sentences and 1,147 life sentences, and said 6,022 people had recovered from addiction while 1,228 were in treatment at 16 centres.