Five held in Basra drug raid; police officer wounded in shootout

BASRA, Iraq — Five suspects linked to drug trafficking were arrested by Iraqi security forces in Basra province, the provincial police directorate said on Tuesday. One police officer was wounded when the suspects opened fire during the operation. According to the statement, a joint police unit operating under the Sevban Police Division pursued a drug dealer to his residence in the Umm Qasr subdistrict and laid siege to the location after the Basra Directorate for Combating Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances came under gunfire from one of its stations. The officer commanding the station was injured in the exchange. Overnight investigation and tracking operations led to the arrest of the fleeing suspect along with four others, the directorate said. Searches of the suspects and the surrounding area yielded 150 grams of narcotics, an electronic scale, two drug-use pipes, counterfeit U.S. dollar banknotes and the weapon used in the attack. The police directorate said the necessary legal procedures had been initiated against the suspects and that they had been referred to judicial authorities. No further details were immediately available.