Iraqi security discovers Captagon drug pills factory in southern Iraq
A customs officer displays Captagon pills, part of confiscated drugs, in Sofia, Bulgaria. photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that security forces discovered a Captagon production factory in Muthanna governorate in southern Iraq for the first time in the country.
The Director of the Department of Relations and Information at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Saad Al-Musawi, mentioned in a statement that a narcotics manufacturing facility was discovered for the first time in Iraq.
“The factory is prepared to manufacture the narcotic Captagon pills, with raw materials estimated at more than 27 kilograms,” Al-Musawi illustrated.
Drug trafficking has become a profitable business in Iraq, with experts estimating its total value at more than $10 billion.
The Iraqi official added that the war against drugs had achieved positive results, whereas large quantities of drugs have been seized and many drug dealers have been arrested in the past few days.
Reports mentioned that Iraq has long been a transit country for Captagon, the amphetamine-like stimulant plaguing the Middle East, but officials say it has also become a consumer market for the drug.
The drug has never been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was declared a controlled substance in 1981 after the medical community determined that the drug’s addictive properties outweighed its clinical benefits.
Captagon had been outlawed in almost every country by 1986, but illegal production of the drug continued.