The suspect, an Iraqi citizen, was arrested in Dohuk province in the autonomous Kurdish region, the judiciary said.

He is suspected of being part of a "major drug trafficking network that also includes foreign nationals", a security source said.

Iraq has become a major transit point for drugs headed to the wealthy Gulf Arab states from neighbouring Syria, or from Afghanistan via Iran and Turkey.

Last month, it announced it had uncovered an underground captagon factory in the south, the first evidence of domestic production of the amphetamine-like drug.