DAMASCUS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Syrian authorities said Sunday that they thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of drugs and arrested members of a cross-border network in coordination with Iraqi counterparts.
The interior authority said that its anti-narcotics department, working with Iraq's General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, carried out operations in rural Damascus and Homs provinces targeting an international smuggling network with regional reach.
The operations led to the seizure of 1.73 million Captagon pills prepared for trafficking to a neighboring country, the authority said in a statement.
Eight suspects, including a woman, were arrested during the raids, it added.
Authorities said anti-drug units will continue operations in coordination with regional partners to pursue smuggling networks and tighten measures to prevent the spread of narcotics. ■
