ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s internal security agency said Sunday it has dismantled an international drug trafficking network, arresting more than a dozen suspects during a major security operation and seizing a crystal meth production laboratory in the southern province of Basra.
In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) said it “successfully carried out a specialized security operation” that led to the dismantling of “an international criminal network involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of narcotics.”
INSS said the operation was “based on precise intelligence and intensive field surveillance across several Iraqi provinces,” resulting in “the arrest of 17 suspects, including 14 foreign nationals, who were part of an organized criminal network producing and trafficking crystal meth.”
The operation also resulted in “the seizure of approximately 20 kilograms of crystal meth, some of which was confiscated in flagrante delicto during the manufacturing process inside a secret lab,” in addition to “eight liters of chemical precursors used in narcotics production.”
In late November, Iraq’s interior ministry said authorities had dismantled more than 1,200 drug trafficking and promotion networks over the past three years, including 171 international groups.
The ministry then reported seizing more than 14 tons of narcotics and issuing more than 2,300 drug-related sentences, including 300 death penalties.
At a press conference in Baghdad, interior ministry Spokesperson Colonel Abbas al-Bahadli said authorities had seized “14 tons, 20 kilograms, and 17 grams of narcotic substances” over the past three years. He added that “2,318 sentences were issued against those involved in drug cases, including 300 death sentences and 1,147 life imprisonment sentences.