Iraq announces haul of 2.5 million captagon pills

Iraqi authorities announced the seizure of 2.5 million captagon pills Tuesday, as the country grapples with a ballooning trade in the banned stimulant.

Authorities in Iraq - a key conduit for the amphetamine-type drug - regularly announce large hauls of captagon, much of it trafficked across the porous 600-kilometre (370-mile) border with war-torn Syria.

Officers "carried out an intelligence operation that led to the seizure of 2.5 million captagon pills" in Najaf and Anbar provinces, said Hussein al-Tamimi, spokesperson for the Anti-Narcotics Directorate.

On Monday, the directorate said it had arrested 6,000 suspects for drug-related crimes in 2024 and seized 10 tonnes of various drugs.

Originally mainly a transit country, Iraq has faced an explosion in drug use in recent years, mainly of captagon and crystal meth.

Governments in the region have recently stepped up their efforts to crack down on trafficking under pressure from the oil-rich Gulf states which are the main markets for captagon.