SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An Iraqi drug trafficker made a daring escape on Monday when associates posing as soldiers forced to police to hand him over, AFP cited a police official as saying.
The official told AFP that the drug trafficker, who is believed to be backed by a powerful armed faction, was detained on Sunday in possession of a “large quantity of drugs” in Maysan province.
The source said armed men dressed as soldiers ambushed a convoy of police numbered including 100 policemen who were escorting him to a court in Amara, the province’s capital, AFP reported.
“They arrived in four 4X4 vehicles, all of them armed, and the police who numbered about 100 had no other choice but to surrender their prisoner,” AFP quoted the official as saying.
He added that the armed men were acting on behalf of a “powerful” faction, which he declined to identify for security reasons and fear of reprisals.
Maysan, one of Iraq’s poorest provinces, is a haven for drug traffickers linked to powerful pro-Iran groups who impose their rule on local authorities, according to AFP.
Elsewhere on Monday, three policemen were shot and wounded during a raid at the home of a suspected drug dealer in Baghdad, medical sources said.
