Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The General Administration for Drug Control at Yemen’s Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of 1,260 suspects involved in 704 drug-related crimes across the liberated governorates during 2025.
The Ministry of Interior’s Security Media quoted the Director of Drug Control, Brigadier Abdullah Lahmadi, as saying that the crimes included 30 drug trafficking cases, 12 smuggling cases, 134 drug promotion cases, 488 drug use cases, 6 transportation cases, one manufacturing case, in addition to 33 other crimes.
He explained that the total number of suspects arrested in drug-related cases during 2025 reached 1,260 individuals from various age groups, including 79 traffickers, 233 dealers, 42 smugglers, 5 transporters, 827 suspects in drug use cases, 3 drug manufacturers, and 71 suspects in other cases.
He noted that the quantities seized during 2025 amounted to 2,986 kilograms and 833 grams of hashish, 1,530 kilograms and 22 grams of crystal meth (shabu), 169 kilograms and 967 grams of heroin, 23 grams and 153 ampoules of opium, in addition to 482,596 Captagon pills, 1,411,332 assorted narcotic pills, and 48 other pills.
The Director General of Drug Control revealed signs of the evolving nature of drug-related crime during 2025, including the formation of organized gangs and cells with regional and international links, exploitation of economic conditions, recruitment of children, targeting women and youth, and the use of advanced methods for concealment, camouflage, and smuggling.
He added that smuggling gangs have increasingly confronted security forces with weapons in several areas, and that these networks are seeking to turn Yemen into a drug manufacturing hub with direct support and exploitation by the Houthi terrorist militia, as part of a regional scheme led by hostile parties to target Yemen and the Arab region with narcotics.
According to the Anti-Narcotics Administration, the most significant qualitative seizures in 2025 included the busting of the first fully integrated factory for manufacturing Captagon and crystal meth in Yemen, in Al-Mahrah Governorate, as well as the seizure of 599 kilograms of pure cocaine in Aden concealed within a sugar shipment arriving from Brazil—the largest quantity ever seized in Yemen’s history.
He further stated that other major seizures included 646,290 Pregabalin pills in the temporary capital Aden; 314 kilograms of crystal meth, 25 kilograms of heroin, and 108 kilograms of hashish off the coast of Lahj Governorate; 432 kilograms of crystal meth in the Red Sea; the discovery of a smuggling den and the seizure of 28,500 Pregabalin tablets in Bab al-Mandab; the seizure of a boat carrying 150,000 Captagon pills; the foiling of an attempt to smuggle 13,750 Captagon pills through the Al-Wadiah border crossing; and the seizure of a 12-meter boat loaded with one ton of narcotic substances (536 packages of crystal meth, 100 packages of hashish, and 10 packages of heroin) in Lahj.
