The commander of anti-narcotics police of Yazd province Colonol Ali Afkhami said on Sunday that the police forces identified and seized 527kg of illegal drugs in two separate operations.
Two consignments which included 527kg of opium were hidden in two cars and were identified in two separate checkpoints in the province, he added.
The police commander noted that six drug smugglers who wanted to transfer the consignments to Tehran from east and southeast of the country were arrested during these operations.
Police Chief of Yazd Province General Mohammad Reza Mirheidari also announced on Sunday that police forces of Yazd province have seized 375kg narcotics which were destined to Tehran.
According to the police chief, the haul included 304kg opium and 71kg hashish which were concealed in two trailer trucks.
Two drug traffickers were arrested in this operation, he added.
Over 10 tons of illegal drugs have been confiscated by the law-enforcement forces in Yazd province since the start of the year 1398 (March 21, 2019).
Yazd roads have an important role in connecting the southern and eastern provinces of Iran with the center of the country and it is being exploited to transport narcotics and drugs due to its location.
The Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trades originating from Afghanistan in the past four decades, despite its high economic and human costs. The country has spent more than hundreds of millions of dollars on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
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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