Iraqi forces bust two foreign travelers with drug pills in Basra
Shafaq News- Basra
Authorities at the Shalamcheh Border Crossing in Basra, southern Iraq, arrested two foreign travelers on Sunday attempting to smuggle narcotic pills into the country.
The crossing directorate said the operation resulted in the seizure of 2,700 Tramadol tablets concealed inside wooden panels prepared for smuggling.
Last week, security forces seized 21 kilograms of captagon pills in the desert of Al-Muthanna after smugglers sent the shipment from Syria into Iraq using a balloon.
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
