Drug Smuggling Network Busted Including a Foreigner, 150 kg and Thousands of Pills Seized

mesoiraq - The General Directorate of Narcotics Affairs, in cooperation with the Naval Forces and Military Intelligence, carried out today, Saturday (September 12, 2026), a qualitative security operation in Iraqi territorial waters that resulted in the seizure of large quantities of drugs and the arrest of 3 suspects, including a foreigner.

The Directorate stated that intelligence operations and special investigations, along with the intelligence cell in Muthanna narcotics, in cooperation with the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Naval Forces Command, carried out the operation in Iraqi territorial waters within the Arabian Gulf, following information received from a neighboring country about suspicious activity via maritime routes.

It added that the executing force, after follow-up and intelligence tracking, was able to spot a boat and seize it with two Iraqi suspects on board, before follow-up operations led to identifying a second boat and seizing it along with a suspect of foreign nationality.

The Directorate explained that the operation resulted in the seizure of 150 kilograms of various narcotic substances and 21,000 pills of Lyrica, in addition to the confiscation of two boats, stressing that this operation reflects the expanding scope of intelligence work to pursue drug trafficking networks and dry up land and sea smuggling routes.