BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces have said they forced down a microlight aircraft near the Kuwaiti border headed to the state from Iran with one million pills of the amphetamine-type stimulant Captagon. Captagon has been sweeping the Middle East for years, with large seizures reported weekly, particularly in the oil-rich Gulf states which are its biggest market.

The Captagon pills seized from the microlight glider that was forced to land.

The Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency said the microlight entered Iraqi airspace from neighboring Iran on Friday. It said agents were alerted to the flight by a tip-off and opened fire on the aircraft flying over Jraishan in Basra province. "That forced the pilot to land. He fled towards the border of a neighboring country," the agency said in a statement.

The statement said the million Captagon pills recovered in a search of the abandoned aircraft were intended for sale inside Iraq. But a senior security forces officer told AFP the microlight "came from Iran" and was "headed for Kuwait" with its consignment of the highly addictive drug. - Agencies