Iraqi security forces arrested a suspected drug dealer in Al-Sulaymaniyah province and seized three kilograms of narcotics from him, the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Narcotics Control said on Thursday, 3 September 2026.[1][2][3] The haul included 2 kilograms of marijuana and 1 kilogram of magic mushrooms, the hallucinogenic fungus the ministry calls “magic mushroom”.[1][2][3] Kirkuk narcotics officers carried out the operation in coordination with the Al-Sulaymaniyah anti-narcotics directorate.[1][2][3] The Kirkuk narcotics directorate said its teams acted on intelligence, arrested one trafficker and displayed the 1 kilogram of magic mushrooms alongside 2 kilograms of marijuana in Al-Sulaymaniyah province.[4] Spokesperson Abbas al-Bahadli said the seizure of the hallucinogenic mushrooms was the first of its kind in Iraq.[3]

The directorate said drug networks were “under control” and would find no safe haven however they renamed or reshaped their products.[4][3]

In the first half of 2026, security forces dismantled 378 drug networks, including 59 international groups, and confiscated more than 1,977 kilograms of narcotics, according to the Interior Ministry.[1] During the same period, Iraqi courts recorded 3,553 drug-related convictions, including 58 death sentences and 236 life terms.[1] For the first eight months of 2026, Bahadli reported the previous week that authorities had confiscated 2 tons and 370 kilograms of narcotics.[3] Over the same eight-month period, 4,644 people were sentenced on drug trafficking and use charges, including 69 to death and 267 to life imprisonment.[3] Security forces also dismantled 304 local and 54 international networks over those eight months.[3]