SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdish security forces have seized an amount of narcotics hidden in religious gifts on the border with Iran, authorities said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Region’s general directorate of anti-drug said the security forces seized methamphetamine in eight cartons of religious gifts and equipment on Haji Omran border crossing.
“The methamphetamine was stored in the cartons in a very secure way,” it added.
A man was also detained who intended to import the drug to the Kurdistan Region, the directorate said.
Kurdish officials have warned that drug trafficking threatens to become an epidemic if anti-narcotics forces fail to curtail its rise in the Kurdistan Region.
The security forces seized more than 555 kilograms of narcotics including heroin, methamphetamine and hashish in 2020, according to the Region’s directorate of anti-narcotics.
According to security officials, some of the drugs that they seize are imported illegally from Iran.
