Court sentences eight to death in Iraq over 600K drug pills

Shafaq News– Baghdad

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court issued death sentences on Sunday against eight convicts for drug trafficking offenses, according to judicial authorities.

The Supreme Judicial Council said security forces seized 600,000 narcotic pills containing amphetamine and caffeine from the convicted.

Iraqi security forces had arrested 12 suspected drug dealers earlier this month in Baghdad and Maysan and seized narcotics, including one kilogram of crystal meth. According to the Interior Ministry, authorities dismantled 1,200 local and international drug trafficking networks and seized more than 14 tons of drugs from 2023 to 2025.

For decades, Iraq was widely regarded as a transit route for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan and Iran toward Europe and the Gulf countries. However, it has increasingly become a major consumer of various narcotics since the 2003 overthrow of the former Iraqi regime by the US-led Coalition, amid prolonged security, political, and economic instability.

Read more: Iraq fights back against synthetic drug flood engulfing the Middle East