Iraq says seizes over 500,000 captagon pills

BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities on Thursday announced the seizure of more than half a million captagon pills, as the country grapples with a ballooning trade in the banned stimulant.
Authorities in Iraq — a key conduit for the amphetamine-type drug — regularly announce large hauls of captagon, much of it trafficked across the porous 600-kilometer (370-mile) border with war-torn Syria.
Iraq’s national security service said in a statement that they were able to “seize more than 500,000 captagon pills that were shipped in a shipment of vegetables coming from a neighboring country.”
It said it made the haul “after setting up an ambush that lasted for several days” in Iraq’s western Anbar province, which borders Syria.
Originally mainly a transit country, Iraq has faced an explosion in drug use in recent years, mainly of captagon and crystal methamphetamine.
A United Nations report in July said Iraqi authorities in 2023 alone had “seized a record-high 24 million captagon tablets,” the equivalent of over 4.1 tons, with an estimated “retail value” of between $84 million and $144 million.
Governments in the region have recently stepped up their efforts to crack down on trafficking under pressure from the oil-rich Gulf states, which are the main markets for captagon.