BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces have said they forced down a microlight aircraft near the Kuwaiti border headed to the state 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 states which are its biggest market.
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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 flying over Jraishan in Basra province. "That forced the pilot to land. He fled towards 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. - Agencies