Publish Date: 19 January 2020 - 16:17

GORGAN, Jan. 19 (MNA) – The anti-narcotic police have seized 1,685 kilograms of opium on the main roads to Gorgan, the northern province of Golestan.

Police Chief of Golestan Province Second Brigadier General Ruhol Amin Ghasemi broke the news on Sudnay, saying that following comprehensive intelligence activities, the police forces traced the haul of illegal consignment in Golestan province, which was coming for one of the eastern provinces of Iran.

Four smugglers have been arrested during the operation and two vehicles were confiscated by the police, he added.

The police chief noted that some 9,325 kilograms of different narcotics have been busted in the province since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 2019).

The Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades, despite its high economic and human costs. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades. 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.

MNA/4829348