Iraq security forces seize 12 million benzhexol pills

Iraqi government officials destroy nearly six tons of drugs, some of which had been in storage for more than a decade, in Baghdad's Nahrawan area on December 18, 2022. (AFP)

• Iraqi security forces have intensified anti-narcotics operations in recent months, with several high-profile seizures reported

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces said Friday they had seized 12 million pills of the antispasmodic drug benzhexol, used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease but also abused as a hallucinogen.
National Security officers recovered the haul from a warehouse in east Baghdad in an operation in which they also made six arrests.
Iraqi security forces have intensified anti-narcotics operations in recent months, with several high-profile seizures reported.
Sharing borders with Syria as well as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iraq has served as a major conduit for traffickers of captagon, an amphetamine which is primarily produced in Syria but has its largest market in the wealthy Gulf states.