Iraqi security forces have said they forced down a microlight aircraft near the Kuwaiti border headed to the emirate 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 Arab states.

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.

“That forced the pilot to land. He fled toward 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