In a statement, the anti-narcotics directorate said that around 6:15 pm on Tuesday their forces conducted a court-ordered operation aimed at investigating two suspected drug dealers when the confrontation occurred.
“In the vicinity of Ankawa, the suspects aimed their weapons at our security forces, resulting in one of our officers being seriously injured,” read the statement.
The anti-narcotics directorate stated that its forces responded to the gunfire killing one of the suspected drug dealers and injuring and arresting the other.
Drug trafficking and use have been on the rise in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
On Monday, Sulaimani Security forces (Asayish) announced the arrest of five people on drug dealing charges following the confiscation of 15 kilograms of narcotic hashish in their possession.
In an interview with Rudaw last month, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Labour and Social Affairs Minister Kwestan Mohammed warned against the spread of drugs in the Region.
“Drugs are a great danger and it is more dangerous than terrorism for the Kurdistan Region. The threat has reached a level where a nine-year-old child was addicted to drugs,” she noted.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, during a conference on combating the drug trade in October, said that the Region is “seriously and widely working to eradicate and combat” the threat of drugs, and called on the Kurdish and international community to cooperate with Erbil to eliminate the source of what he described an “endemic” problem.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] is seriously and widely working to eradicate and combat this dangerous threat, as well as mobilizing all its efforts to prevent its spread,” Barzani said.
