BAGHDAD, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces killed a drug dealer and wounded another in a clash in southern Iraq, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Muqdad Miri, the ministry's spokesman, said in a statement that the anti-narcotics forces clashed with drug dealers during a raid on their safe house in Iraq's southern province of al-Qadisiyah, killing one of them and wounding another. A security member was also injured during the clash.

Meanwhile, the anti-narcotics forces also seized 65 kg of narcotic Captagon pills in Iraq's western province of Anbar, according to the statement.

Captagon, the trademark name for the synthetic stimulant fenethylline, was first produced in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy, and depression. It was banned in most countries in the 1980s as too addictive.

Captagon pills remain hugely popular in the Middle East as it is cheap and simple to make.

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

In May 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani underlined the importance of waging "a war on drugs," saying drug dealing remains one of the main ways of financing terrorism, and the circulation of drugs flourishes in the shadow of terrorism. Enditem

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