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The Iraqi crisis on captagon and synthetic drugs
Drug trafficking within and through Iraq has witnessed an escalation. In recent years, drug sales and distribution have predominantly occurred in impoverished areas of the main cities and the southern regions, prompting stringent measures by Iraqi authorities to curtail the drug's proliferation.
This emergency is caused mainly by the traffic of two kind of synthetic drugs: captagon and crystal meth.
The first one is produced in Syria the second according to the Iraqi authorities come from Iran laboratories.
Syria emerged devastated and impoverished from the war that began in 2011, has rapidly transformed into a narco-state capable of making billions of dollars from captagon production and trafficking, the potential value of the retail trade in 2021 is estimated at over $5.7 billion (New Lines Institute report). In May 2023 Syria was accepted back in the Arab League with the agreement from al-Assad government to curb drug trafficking and the result was a decrease in the flow in the direction of Jordan. But the obvious consequence has been the intensification of traffic in the direction of the Rojava territories in constant difficulties because targetted by the Turkish army and without the necessary equipment and experience have to deal with the captagon trade on the Syria-Iraq border, the same thing happens in the Kurdish territories of Iraq where the notable increase in captagon-related arrests occurred in in 2023, supporting findings that traffickers are increasingly using the country as a transshipment route.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has declared that the country is beset by the scourge of crystal meth. The Government of Iraq and its partners have stressed the need for collective responses to tackle the security, social and economic ramifications of drug trafficking across the Near and Middle East.
The request of an international coordination is due to the enormous numbers in terms of seizures in the country (14,000 drug suspects were arrested across Iraqi provinces in 2024): methamphetamine seizures increased almost sixfold in 2023 compared to 2019, while captagon seizures reportedly tripled between 2022 and 2023, and overall amounts seized in 2023 are 34 times higher than in 2019. (UNODC)
On May 2023, al-Sudani pledged to wage a "war on drugs" during the inaugural Baghdad International Conference on Drug Control, highlighting its significance, which he equated to the fight against terrorism.
New rehabs were opened with the support of private foundations and the government, and even the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Muqtada al-sadr, agreed to the fight on drugs opening a facility in Sadr city: Al-ataa rehab centre, where every day young people from all over Iraq go to detoxification.
According to Enas Kareem, former teacher from 2017 in charge of a charity dedicated to drug addicted the common depression for the economical and social situation is the beginning of using synthetic drugs, most of the addicted they need a pharmacological and psychological treatment by they have no possibility to do that because for years drug trafficking was not considered on the agenda of the previous governments in Iraq.
This emergency is caused mainly by the traffic of two kind of synthetic drugs: captagon and crystal meth.
The first one is produced in Syria the second according to the Iraqi authorities come from Iran laboratories.
Syria emerged devastated and impoverished from the war that began in 2011, has rapidly transformed into a narco-state capable of making billions of dollars from captagon production and trafficking, the potential value of the retail trade in 2021 is estimated at over $5.7 billion (New Lines Institute report). In May 2023 Syria was accepted back in the Arab League with the agreement from al-Assad government to curb drug trafficking and the result was a decrease in the flow in the direction of Jordan. But the obvious consequence has been the intensification of traffic in the direction of the Rojava territories in constant difficulties because targetted by the Turkish army and without the necessary equipment and experience have to deal with the captagon trade on the Syria-Iraq border, the same thing happens in the Kurdish territories of Iraq where the notable increase in captagon-related arrests occurred in in 2023, supporting findings that traffickers are increasingly using the country as a transshipment route.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has declared that the country is beset by the scourge of crystal meth. The Government of Iraq and its partners have stressed the need for collective responses to tackle the security, social and economic ramifications of drug trafficking across the Near and Middle East.
The request of an international coordination is due to the enormous numbers in terms of seizures in the country (14,000 drug suspects were arrested across Iraqi provinces in 2024): methamphetamine seizures increased almost sixfold in 2023 compared to 2019, while captagon seizures reportedly tripled between 2022 and 2023, and overall amounts seized in 2023 are 34 times higher than in 2019. (UNODC)
On May 2023, al-Sudani pledged to wage a "war on drugs" during the inaugural Baghdad International Conference on Drug Control, highlighting its significance, which he equated to the fight against terrorism.
New rehabs were opened with the support of private foundations and the government, and even the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Muqtada al-sadr, agreed to the fight on drugs opening a facility in Sadr city: Al-ataa rehab centre, where every day young people from all over Iraq go to detoxification.
According to Enas Kareem, former teacher from 2017 in charge of a charity dedicated to drug addicted the common depression for the economical and social situation is the beginning of using synthetic drugs, most of the addicted they need a pharmacological and psychological treatment by they have no possibility to do that because for years drug trafficking was not considered on the agenda of the previous governments in Iraq.
001 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
Captagon seized in Iraqi Kurdistan. Captagon seizures in Iraq “reportedly tripled between 2022 and 2023, and overall amounts seized in 2023 are 34 times higher than in 2019.” Captagon today is trafficked through several Middle Eastern countries, with Syria the main country of origin. |
002 Syria; Qamishli; 2023
Night patrolling of the YPG police department in Qamishli. Due to the increasing of narcotrafficking every day and night the police forces search and investigate to find captagon dealers and traffickers. These operations are coordinated with the special YPG forces. Syria Damascus government continues to deny its role in captagon production and trafficking, asserting that captagon stems from terrorist organizations operating outside of areas it controls. |
004 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Hasuin, 25 years old guy from Karbala. He started from few days the therapy at Al-Ataa hospital. He was in prison for two years and there started to smoke crystal, also 2g per day. He was forced to be in rehab, he thinks that is no necessary for him. He was arrested for robbery finding a way to make money for drugs. His body is full of scars made by him because the dependency of crystal. |
005 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Detail of Hasuin arm. Hasuin, 25 years old guy from Karbala. He started from few days the therapy at Al-Ataa hospital. He was in prison for two years and there started to smoke crystal, also 2g per day. He was forced to be in rehab, he thinks that is no necessary for him. He was arrested for robbery finding a way to make money for drugs. His body is full of scars made by him because the dependency of crystal. |
008 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
M. she is 34. She started her addiction with the “01”, an anfetamine popular in Iraq. She started because at work they suggested to her to take it for losing weight. After 6 months the dealer, who was her boss at work proposed to her to smoke crystal as alternative. Most of the coworkers were taking 01 and crystal, giving also the 80% of their salary for paying the drug. With crystal she start to have a double life, in a way her parents were taking care of the kids, out of home she was was not having a social life anymore. She lost 20kg in the 5 years of addiction. Only the time a doctor told her that what she was taking was not a way to lose weight but a drug she understood that she was addicted: “nobody on tv or on the news was talking about crystal as drug, I did not know, my boss insisted that I had to be calm and not believe to the doctor, but I started to realise what was going on for real.” In the first year smoking crystal gave her euphoria, but after only stress. Last time she had crystal was 8 days before this picture, now she is trying to do a treatment to quit with crystal because she has no money anymore and she wants to take back her life. |
009 Iraq; Butinah area border with Turkey; 2024
Road heading towards the Kurdistan-Turkish border. The area is one of the most affected by the growing trafficking of synthetic drugs in the Middle East. Since 2019, Iraqi authorities have observed an increase in smuggling activities occurring along these eastern and southern borders of the country, but in the last year there was an exceptional number of seizures also in Kurdistan region, surrounded by the difficult borders of Syria, Turkey and Iran. Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani called for regional cooperation. “Coordinating and cooperating to pursue and dismantle drug gangs will serve regional and international security,” he said, adding that “Iraq is open to all cooperation” to fight “cross-border crime.” |
011 Syria; Qamishli; 2023
Night patrolling of the YPG police department in Qamishli. Due to the increasing of narcotrafficking every day and night the police forces search and investigate to find captagon dealers and traffickers. These operations are coordinated with the special YPG forces. |
013 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Enas Kareem, former teacher from 2017 in charge of a charity dedicated to drug addicted. She was surprised by the high number of students with drug addiction while she was a teacher, after she started to study with books the topic of drug addiction. In 2019 she declared that in Iraq there is a new “silent terrorism”, the diffusion of synthetic drugs in Iraqi territory from the borders of Syria and Iran. She created a network with her charity with other hospitals despite the number of people specialised is little because the issue is new. “There’s still a law about drugs from the 1989 that must be adapted on the current events, we are working to ask to the government to make something about that.” From her point of view the common depression for the economical and social situation is the beginning of using synthetic drugs, most of the addicted they need a pharmacological and psychological treatment by the have no possibility to do that. |
014 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Al-Ataa rehab hospital in Sadr city. The hospital is no governmental, but managed by the Shi'ite militia of Saraya al Salam of the leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Before it was a covid centre but since an year is a rehab, at the moment only 1 floor can host the patients, but they are going to open other 2 floors and the hospital could arrive to reach 220 patients max. |
016 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
Kurdistan anti-drug operations team during checks and patrols in the city of Erbil. Iraq appears to be at the nexus of regional trafficking routes for both methamphetamine and “captagon”, and becoming a critical juncture in the complex trafficking dynamics observed in the Near and Middle East region. (UNODC report) The Kurdistan Region's anti-narcotics forces have successfully confiscated over 10 million captagon tablets in the past 12 months. This significant seizure underscores the region's commitment to combatting the dangerous proliferation of the amphetamine-like stimulant. |
018 Iraq; Erbil; 2023
City of Erbil by night. The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics forces have recently announced that over 940 people had been arrested in the last five months this year for drug trafficking. The Kurdish security forces have tightened measures at border crossings as well as urban centers. They have recently launched a raid on the cafés and restaurants in the capital Erbil, where they had taken samples from hookah tobacco to investigate the presence of any illicit drugs. |
019 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Detail of an arm of a patient in the centre at Al-Ataa hospital. The consumption of crystal meth has visible consequences on the body of users, one of the most important being sores on parts of the body due to sensation causes meth users to pick or scratch at their skin, resulting in sores and lesions, usually on the face and arms. Heavy, daily meth cause this formication, the delusional belief that insects are crawling over or under the skin and biting the individual. These result of the addiction on meth is known as “meth mites.” |
020 Iraq; Baghdad; 2023
Zo Al Faqar, he’s 18. Addicted to crystal for 5 years he started to stay in the rehab of Al Ataa since a week. He decided to get to rehabilitation on his own, when he noticed all the scars and spots on his arms. He used to smoke 3g of crystal per day. |
![Iraq; Erbil; 2024 Lawyer Majid Tahir, expert in legislation concerning drug trafficking in Iraqi Kurdistan. "As a living example, our first reference is Mr. Masoud Barzani [...] He directly referred to the dangers of drugs, and the government, in agreement with the national bodies, he's working seriously to combat drugs, and he's aware of the extent of its danger to the citizen and the social component of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole."](https://024.myphotoportal.com/image.php?nocache=1&height=990&image=/archivio/foto/1615388/021.JPG)
021 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
Lawyer Majid Tahir, expert in legislation concerning drug trafficking in Iraqi Kurdistan. "As a living example, our first reference is Mr. Masoud Barzani [...] He directly referred to the dangers of drugs, and the government, in agreement with the national bodies, he's working seriously to combat drugs, and he's aware of the extent of its danger to the citizen and the social component of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole." |
023 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
Anonymous accused of trafficking captagon. According to Kurdish law, the offence can be punished with imprisonment of more than five years. Since 2020, the Kurdish parliament has renewed the drug law in line with international standards, de facto suspending the death penalty. All detainees plead innocence: either that they have carried captagon or that they have been falsely accused. But the Kurdistan security forces for each suspect have important dossiers proving the guilt of those involved. |
024 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
160 kg of captagon seized by Iraqi Kurdistan authorities. Over the past three years, Iraq has become an important crossroads for the Middle East's synthetic drug trade. Captagon seizures have tripled, and the Kurdish authorities point to multiple culprits: the Assad regime's Syria, Hezbollah, and entities linked to Iran. |
025 Iraq; Erbil; 2024
Police inspector records inspection for drug control by asking the owner for informations. Most suspicious locations for drug raids are generally cafes and bars frequented by men. Shisha café are the places mostly checked and according to the authorities, synthetic drugs such as captagon are mixed into tobacco. Customers are checked by the police during anti-drugs operations. Eventually for the customers is asked to do a urine test. |
027 Iraq; Butinah area border with Turkey; 2024
Men from the border patrol and security forces in Kurdistan are present at the border to Turkey. Smuggling methods, including specialized packaging and concealment techniques, have evolved, indicating increasing trafficker sophistication. A notable increase in captagon-related arrests occurred in Turkey in 2023, supporting findings that traffickers are increasingly using the country as a transshipment route. Much as in Iraq, authorities largely arrested traffickers smuggling captagon from its border with Syria rather than conducting mass arrests against local distributors or production networks. |
028 Iraq; Butinah area border with Turkey; 2024
Kurdistan-Turkey border. Kurdistan is a territory with highly problematic security borders, with Syria on one side and Turkey and Iran on the other. In recent years, Kurdistan has become an outpost to stop the growing drug trade in the Middle East. Captagon mainly produced in Syria goes directly to Arab countries or is redistributed on new routes into Iraq. |
Syria; Al Hasakah; 2023
Captagon seized by the YPG police in Syria. 100409 tablets hidden in a truck (18 kg) The value of a single pill is 0,50 US dollars in Syrian territory. The main work of the YPG police department is patrolling the cities and use all the info provided by citizens who can tell them where captagon could be find. Some civilians ask for money for such informations. Syria remains the anchor for industrial captagon production, small-scale production has sprouted in Iraq and mainland Europe as suppliers seek to diversify manufacturing and trafficking methods. |
