Police Chief of South Khorasan province Second Brigadier General Majid Shoja made the announcement on Sunday, saying that 43 tons of narcotics have been busted in the province which indicates a 26 percent increase compared to the corresponding period last year.
“The amount of drug bust with the cooperation of other organizations such as prisons has hit 44 percent," he added.
He went on to say that from the beginning of the current Iranian year, 5,000 offenders have been arrested due to drug-related crimes and 1000 cars have been confiscated.
According to the Police Chief, 65 drug-trafficking gangs have been dismantled in South Khorasan province from the beginning of the current Iranian year.
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.
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