Iraq said on Tuesday it has arrested members of a drug gang in an operation in Syria, foiling a plan to smuggle Captagon into Iraqi territory.
The Iraqi National Intelligence Service said it worked in co-ordination with Syrian security to organise a raid in which 200,000 pills were seized.
The agency said it acted on "precise intelligence and continuous tracking in several regional countries" to bring down an "international drug network".
It added that the five-member network was "planning to smuggle large quantities of Captagon pills into Iraq through Syrian territory in several batches".
Iraq and Syria have been increasing co-operation on efforts to tackle drug smuggling.
In December, Iraqi and Syrian authorities announced the seizure of 57kg of illegal drugs in a joint operation in Syria.
In October, they seized 370kg of drugs, also in Syria. In July, Iraqi counter-narcotics forces seized more than 1.35 million Captagon pills in a raid in Damascus.
Captagon is an addictive amphetamine often trafficked to countries across the Middle East. Millions of pills were produced in Syria under the Assad regime, with Syria accounting for about 80 per cent of world production, the New Lines Institute think tank said.
Despite many tonnes of the drug being confiscated, the trade has fuelled addiction in countries including Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
