ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Anti-narcotics forces in Iraq's northern Kirkuk province seized some 20 kilograms of marijuana and dismantled an "international" drug trafficking network in coordination with authorities in a "neighboring country," the Iraqi interior ministry said Thursday. The move comes as Iraq has ramped up efforts to crack down on the drug trade.
“In a cross-border security operation coordinated with relevant authorities in a neighboring country,” the Kirkuk Directorate of Narcotics Affairs "dealt a crushing blow to trafficking and smuggling networks, following precise intelligence tracking and high-level security coordination," the ministry said in a statement.
"The operation resulted in the seizure of 20 kilograms of marijuana and the dismantling of an international network active in the trade and smuggling of narcotics, foiling its plans to move the illicit substances and expand its criminal activity," the statement added.
The ministry further framed the bust as “renewed confirmation of the relevant agencies' ability to pursue and dismantle drug networks, even beyond the country's borders.”
Iraq has in recent years escalated its war on drugs, stepping up coordination with regional neighbors. Baghdad's interior ministry reported recently that 1,538 trafficking networks were dismantled between January 2023 and mid-2026.
Baghdad has also conducted dozens of cross-border operations and high-level raids into neighboring states, with authorities issuing tens of Interpol warrants and establishing more than 30 direct liaison channels with regional and international partners.
According to official figures, the Iraqi judiciary handed down around 300 death sentences against major drug traffickers and network leaders, and 1,147 life imprisonment sentences - 20 years under Iraqi law - between late 2022 and late 2025. Those severe penalties accounted for the majority of the 2,318 total sentences issued in drug cases during that period."
Operations have also increasingly relied on joint intelligence-sharing between Baghdad's federal security apparatus and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces to close security gaps in disputed areas as well as border and mountainous zones.
Despite massive seizures and high-profile busts, Iraq remains heavily targeted by international cartels, given the lucrative Middle Eastern drug trade and complex regional border dynamics.
A July 2024 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) described Iraq as a “conduit for the flow of drugs” between southwest Asia, the Arab peninsula, and Europe.
