Iraq busts international drug ring exploiting people with disabilities

Shafaq News – Basra

Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) dismantled an international criminal network involved in drug manufacturing and trafficking, seizing a crystal meth laboratory in Basra and arresting 17 suspects nationwide.

According to a statement from the INSS, 14 of those arrested are foreign nationals. Investigators said the network’s main suspect, who entered Iraq from a neighboring country, rented a house in Basra and converted it into a secret laboratory to produce crystal meth, while a second key suspect—wanted for smuggling narcotics and precursor materials—was arrested in a coordinated ambush carried out by a tactical unit in the province.

The operation extended to Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, and Qadisiyah, where simultaneous raids resulted in the seizure of nearly 20 kilograms of crystal meth—some caught in the act of production—as well as eight liters of chemical precursors used in drug manufacturing.

Investigators also found that people with disabilities were reportedly exploited to smuggle the substances.

Earlier this month, Iraqi border forces intercepted two hot-air balloons loaded with narcotics along the western and southeastern borders, seizing more than 200,000 pills.

Iraqi authorities warn that the country is becoming both a consumer market and a transit route for regional drug trafficking. By the end of 2024, the Interior Ministry had dismantled 600 domestic and international trafficking networks, while more than 7,000 people were convicted of drug-related offenses in 2023, receiving sentences ranging from imprisonment to the death penalty.

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