Iraq security forces seize 12 million benzhexol pills

Iraqi security forces said on Friday they had seized 12 million pills of the antispasmodic drug benzhexol, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease but also abused as a hallucinogen.

National Security officers recovered the haul from a warehouse in east Baghdad in an operation in which they also made six arrests.

Iraqi security forces have intensified anti-narcotics operations in recent months, with several high-profile seizures reported.

Sharing borders with Syria as well as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iraq has served as a major conduit for traffickers of captagon, an amphetamine which is primarily produced in Syria but has its largest market in the wealthy Gulf states.