SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdish forces arrested a suspect on charges of drug trafficking in Sulaimani city, authorities said on Monday.
The directorate of Asayish (security) said its units had detained a 42-year-old suspect who is a resident of Kirkuk at one of the stores of a remittance office in Sulaimani city.
The security forces also seized more than 106 kilograms of heroin in the store, Asayish said in a statement.
“He intended to hide it in equipment and send it outside the Kurdistan Region,” it added.
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.
In June, the security forces also seized 207 kilograms of narcotics and detained three suspects in Sulaimani province.
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.
