Baghdad The General Directorate of Narcotics Control announced today, Sunday, security agreements with neighboring countries to limit the spread of the drug phenomenon, while revealing a hot number for reporting drug crimes.

The Director General of Anti-Narcotics, Major General Mazen Kamel Mansour, told the official agency: “The directorate is doing a great job in limiting the spread of the drug phenomenon, through several roles; investigation and arrest on the one hand, and awareness-raising through publishing “posters” and indicators and giving lectures on the other hand.”

He explained, “According to the directorate’s annual report, the number of those arrested last year amounted to more than 6,000 people, and the materials seized from their possession amounted to half a ton,” noting that “the directorate is working in the coming days to prepare the report for the current year.”

He added: “Hotline 178 has been allocated with citizens, through which the Directorate receives notifications and news related to drugs and the ways and methods of importing these substances, as well as the presence of coordination and information exchange between Iraq and neighboring countries through security agreements to limit the spread of drugs in the country.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency