LONDON: Syria’s Narcotics Department, in collaboration with Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs across the border.

The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday a joint security operation targeting an international criminal network in the Homs governorate of northern Syria, involved in the manufacture, promotion and smuggling of narcotics.

Authorities seized about 300,000 tablets of the narcotic substance Captagon and arrested two suspects attempting to smuggle these substances into Syria to distribute them in the region later.

The two suspects are wanted internationally for drug trafficking, and one of them is a foreign national, according to the ministry.

In January, authorities in Syria and Iraq targeted an international drug smuggling network, leading to the seizure of about 2.5 million Captagon pills and the arrest of several individuals in both countries involved in criminal activity.