On Monday, gunmen in military uniform escaped a drug dealer by force from outside a court in the city of Amara (southern Iraq).
An Iraqi police official - who refused to be named - stated that the gunmen "attacked a group of about 100 policemen who were transporting the drug dealer to a court" in the city of Amara.
He added that the elements, who were armed with "modern" weapons, "released" the merchant, and "transported him with 4 American-made Tahoe four-wheel drive cars."
The source pointed out that the accused was "arrested" about 24 hours ago, "and he was in possession of large quantities of narcotic substances."
Maysan Governorate - and its center is the city of Amara - has become one of the poorest regions in the second largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and one of the most prominent drug smuggling areas in Iraq.
The source confirmed that the gunmen carried out the operation on behalf of an "influential party."
In the capital, Baghdad, 3 members of the Police Intelligence were wounded - one of them seriously - after they were shot with a Kalashnikov weapon, during a raid on the house of a drug dealer in Palestine Street (in the city center), according to what a medical source said.
The rate of drug consumption has increased dramatically in Iraq during the past years, while it was considered a crossing during the regime of the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, before 2003, for narcotic substances manufactured in Iran or Afghanistan towards Europe.
The Iraqi law punishes the death penalty or life imprisonment and confiscation of funds for anyone who is found guilty of drug trafficking, but in 2017 the Iraqi parliament enacted a law that reduced the penalties for drug users and traffickers.