The Second Brigadier General Saeed Montazerolmahdi, the spokesperson of Iran Drug Control Headquarters said that 298,172 kg of illicit drugs have been identified and confiscated by Iranian anti-narcotics police in various operations in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – July 21), adding that the level of drug discoveries have increased 7 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to the statistics, majority of the seized drugs are opium with 82% while hashish, heroin and crystal rank next with 9, 2 and 2 percent respectively, he added.
82,653 smugglers and drugs distributors have been arrested in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar which have increased 6 percent compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, is used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to drug kingpins in Europe. Iran is at the forefront of the fight against drug trafficking and thousands of Iranian forces have been so far martyred to protect the world from the danger of drugs.
Iran has lost many forces during this fight. Tehran has always asked for international help in such operations, noting that the other countries, especially European states, should take responsibility and play a positive role in this fight or face its threats themselves.
According to reports, in 2018 alone, Iranian forces carried out 1,557 operations against drug traffickers, seizing approximately 807 tons of different types of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
According to the World Drug Report 2019” of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2017, Iran had seized the largest quantity of opiates, accounting for 39% of the global total.
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