Joint Iraq–Syria raid seizes 320 kilograms of drugs

Shafaq News – Baghdad / Damascus (Updated at 11:45)

Iraq and Syria conducted a coordinated operation that dismantled a major cross-border drug trafficking network, Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the operation resulted in the seizure of 320 kilograms of narcotics and the arrest of several internationally wanted suspects, after a specialized unit from Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs entered Syrian territory in coordination with Syrian counterparts.

The Syrian Interior Ministry, meanwhile, reported the confiscation of 108 kilograms of hashish and 1,272,000 captagon pills, affirming its commitment to strengthening international cooperation “to safeguard the country’s security and stability.”

In July, Iraqi and Syrian agencies conducted another joint raid inside Syria, seizing more than 1.35 million captagon pills.

The operations came amid mounting concern over Syria’s role as the epicenter of the Middle East’s narcotics trade—dominated by captagon—serving as both a production hub and a transit corridor for a market worth more than $2 billion annually. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), over 80 percent of the world’s captagon supply originates in Syria.

Read more: Captagon Empire: How Syria fuels a $2B regional drug trade

Iraq shares a 600-kilometer border with Syria, long exploited by traffickers despite reinforced patrols. Experts warn that effectively curbing the trade requires “a real security alliance among Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, supported by international assistance.”