The Syrian Narcotics Directorate, working with Iraq’s drugs directorate, foiled an attempt to smuggle 57 kilograms of hashish in a joint security operation announced on 30 November 2025.[1] Two suspects were arrested during the operation.[1] The seized narcotics were confiscated and those arrested were referred to the competent judicial authorities for legal procedures.[1]

Iraqi intelligence teams acted on accurate intelligence and coordinated with Syria’s drug control directorate before a unit from Iraq’s narcotics directorate deployed into Syrian territory.[2] Iraq’s Interior Ministry described those held as two international drug traffickers carrying 57 kilograms of hashish they planned to bring into Iraqi territory.[2] Iraq’s Interior Ministry likewise said two suspects were arrested in an operation in Syria as part of security and intelligence cooperation between the two countries.[2][3] Those suspects were planning to smuggle hashish into Iraqi territory.[2][3]

Syria’s Interior Ministry presented the operation as reflecting growing regional coordination against cross-border criminal networks.[1] The Syrian account said the Narcotics Directorate, with Internal Security Forces, had intensified its campaign against trafficking that it said expanded under the deposed regime through production, domestic distribution and export to neighbours.[1]

Iraqi ministry spokesperson Col. Abbas al-Bahadli said Iraq has carried out 40 operations outside the country and now maintains 33 liaison points with regional and international partners.[2]