Police Chief of Sistan and Balouchestan province Brigadier General Mohammad Ghanbari said on Saturday that a big consignment of illicit drugs have been seized in an operation carried out by police forces of the province.
Following the intelligence activities, the police forces of Saravan have identified and dismantled a drug-trafficking band who had intended to transfer a big consignments of narcotics to the central parts of Iran from eastern borders, he added.
2,246 kilograms of different drugs were seized during a clash between smugglers and police forces, Ghanbari said.
According to the police chief, the smugglers fled to the highlands of the area using the darkness of the night.
2,022 kg of opium and 223 kg of hashish have been seized during the operation, in addition to confiscation of some amount of ammunition, he noted.
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.
The war on drug trade has also claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
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