ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drug raid in Iraq has left seven security personnel injured and the suspected drug dealer dead, the country’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs announced Tuesday, after the suspect detonated a hand grenade during an arrest operation.
The security mission involved a joint operation carried out by detachments from the Basra and Babylon narcotics affairs directorates aimed at apprehending the dealer.
"After he was surrounded, the suspect pulled a hand grenade that was in his possession," the directorate said in a statement, noting that “during negotiations with him, he detonated it, resulting in his death and the injury of two officers and five personnel.”
The confrontation comes amid Iraq's intensified crackdown on drug trafficking networks, with authorities reporting dozens of armed clashes and hundreds of networks dismantled since the beginning of the year.
The directorate emphasized on Tuesday that the casualties represent “a painful price for the sacrifices made” by security forces, but affirmed that the incident will not deter its personnel from continuing their duties with full firmness and responsibility.
The incident comes two days after the directorate said its forces on Sunday arrested three suspected international drug traffickers of foreign nationality following an exchange of gunfire in the country's territorial waters, recovering 30 kilograms of drugs that the suspects had thrown into the sea.
In late August, Iraq's anti-drug directorate reported that 4,644 people had been convicted in drug-related cases since the beginning of the year, including 69 death sentences and 267 life sentences.
Authorities also reported dismantling 304 domestic and 54 international trafficking networks, while carrying out 21 operations abroad.
The directorate said at the time its forces had engaged in 32 armed confrontations with suspected traffickers this year, leaving one security officer dead and 31 wounded.
Iraq remains a destination and transit route for narcotics, with a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report describing it as a conduit for drugs between Southwest Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Europe.
To counter rising domestic consumption and a surge in Captagon from Syria, anti-drug operations have scaled up internationally, establishing 36 liaison channels with foreign counterparts.
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