Iraqi security forces have said they forced down a microlight aircraft near the Kuwaiti border headed to the emirate from Iran with one million pills of the amphetamine-type stimulant captagon.
Captagon has been sweeping the Middle East for years, with large seizures reported weekly, particularly in the oil-rich Gulf Arab states.
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The Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency said the microlight entered Iraqi airspace from neighboring Iran on Friday.
It said agents were alerted to the flight by a tip-off and opened fire on the aircraft.
“That forced the pilot to land. He fled toward the border of a neighboring country,” the agency said in a statement.
The statement said the million captagon pills recovered in a search of the abandoned aircraft were intended for sale inside Iraq.
But a senior security forces officer told AFP the microlight “came from Iran” and was “headed for Kuwait” with its consignment of the highly addictive drug.
Read more:
Iraq seizes more than six million Captagon pills in drug bust
Iran ‘deliberately flooding’ Yemen with drugs: Minister
Saudi Arabia foils attempt to smuggle over 141,000 Captagon pills
