ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Basra police on Saturday said they demolished the home of an alleged drug trafficker after seizing narcotics and other items from the property.
“A team composed of several forces conducted a thorough search of a suspect's house and seized approximately 250 grams of crystal-type narcotics, drug paraphernalia, and several IDs and documents belonging to other people,” Basra police spokesperson Aziz Abadi told Rudaw.
“After legal procedures, the house was demolished because it was being used as a base for drug trafficking and consumption,” Abadi added.
Police said in a statement that they arrested “one of the most dangerous drug dealers” in Basra’s Zubair district.
The suspect has “confessed to trafficking narcotics and committing several theft crimes,” the police said.
Once largely a transit country, Iraq has increasingly become a destination for narcotics, raising alarm among officials and the public. As authorities have intensified their anti-drug campaign, courts often hand down life sentences or the death penalty for drug-related offenses. Under Article 27 of Iraq’s Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law, individuals involved in exporting, importing, producing, or cultivating narcotics face harsh penalties.
Baghdad is also sharing intelligence about trafficking networks with international partners and in August the Interior Ministry described Iraq as a “regional leader” in combating drugs. Iraq ranks third among 138 countries in anti-narcotic efforts, according to World Police Summit ratings.