Iraqi security forces arrested a group of 18 people charged with trafficking drugs in Basra, spokesman for the Joint Operations Commander Tahsin Khafaji said.

The Directorate of Counter-Narcotics said that more than 6,000 people have been arrested on charges of using and trafficking illegal drugs since the beginning of this year until mid-June in the users.

Since the emergence of IS in Iraq, drug trafficking has increased on the Iraq-Iran border. On June 6, Iraqi Intelligence Service downed a paraglider over Basra, that carried a large number of illegal drugs.