Iraqi PM warns narcotics affect regional stability

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, warned on Monday that the trafficking and use of narcotics are seriously threatening regional stability.

Al-Sudani’s remarks took place during his speech at the second version of the Baghdad International Conference on Countering Narcotics held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where he urged for concerted measures to address the problem, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The conference was attended by interior ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, as well as senior officials from the region and representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Iraqi Prime Minister stated that drugs are an essential cause of instability in the region, clarifying that the effects of drugs are comparable to those of terrorism in that they both undermine family structures and security.

Despite remarkable efforts implemented by the Iraqi government to prevent drug dealing, the number of drug addicts and traffickers in the country has been alarmingly rising in recent years.

In March, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior revealed that more than 1,400 suspects, including foreign traffickers, had been arrested in different parts of the country on drug-related offenses in February alone.

The Interior Ministry also illustrated that nine tons of psychoactive chemicals and almost 390 kilograms of narcotics were seized in the same month.

Iraqi security forces discovered a Captagon production factory in the southern Iraqi governorate of Muthanna for the first time in the country last July.

Drug trafficking has become a profitable business in Iraq, with experts estimating its total value at more than $10 billion.