BAGHDAD, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced Friday the seizure of 2.156 tons of drugs so far in 2025, and pledged to intensify anti-drug operations.

Hussein al-Tamimi, spokesperson for the ministry's General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, told the official Iraqi News Agency that 194 international and 1,365 local drug traffickers have been arrested this year.

The chaos and conflicts in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003 have impeded successive Iraqi governments from effectively addressing the threat of drugs.

Over 6 tons of drugs were seized and 14,438 suspects involved in drug crimes were arrested in 2024, the ministry said in late December.

In May 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani underlined the importance of waging "a war on drugs," saying that drug dealing remains a major source of funding for terrorism and that the circulation of drugs flourishes in the shadow of terrorism. Enditem

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