Shafaq News-Baghdad
Daily raidsacross Baghdad, provincial cities, and border crossings have netted tens ofthousands of suspects and dozens of tons of controlled substances in 2026, asIraqi security forces press “an open war” against narcotics networks, accordingto the General Directorate for Narcotics Affairs and Psychotropic Substances atthe Interior Ministry.
SecurityOperations
Thedirectorate's Media and Public Relations Director, Col. Abbas al-Bahadli, toldShafaq News that the campaign marks a structural turning point for Iraqicounter-narcotics efforts. The directorate, he said, was previously composed ofsmall units attached to police and intelligence services with limited capacityto confront the scale of the threat. The Interior Ministry has since expandedit into a standalone general directorate with a direct ministerial reportingline and a provincial field presence.
Operationalstrategy has also shifted, according to al-Bahadli. The directorate has movedfrom a containment phase to confrontation and pre-emptive operations, he said,adding that thousands of networks have been dismantled and the country's mostsignificant traffickers arrested in recent years. Iraqi forces have conductedapproximately 65 operations outside Iraq since 2023, coordinated with regionaland international partners, with the stated aim of intercepting shipments beforethey reach Iraqi territory. The operations target local dealers, majortraffickers, and cross-border smuggling rings beyond Iraqi territory.
“The externaloperations are the ministry’s broader strategy to block narcotics at theirsource.”
Smugglingmethods have also grown more sophisticated, including the use of airborneballoons to cross the border —a technique documented in a recent operation inwestern al-Anbar province, where authorities intercepted a consignment of morethan 198,000 narcotic tablets.
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Rehabilitationand Social Dimensions
Alongside thesecurity operations, Iraq has established 16 rehabilitation centers offeringpsychological, medical, and social treatment for addicts, including three inBaghdad, al-Bahadli said. More than 7,270 individuals have completed treatmentand reintegrated into society since 2023.
A policy changeseparating addicts from traffickers in the custodial system was also cited as asignificant procedural reform; previously, addicts were held alongside dealersin the prison population.
Al-Bahadli alsopointed to price movements in the narcotics market as evidence of operationalimpact: crystal methamphetamine prices have risen from approximately 10,000dinars ($7.63) per gram to around 200,000 dinars ($152.6), a shift heattributed to reduced supply resulting from sustained security pressure ondistribution networks.
“Youth are theprimary target demographic of narcotics networks,” al-Bahadli warned, withindividuals between 16 and 40 years of age most at risk. He described thepattern as a deliberate effort to drain the country of its productive human capital.
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