Police Chief of Sistan and Balouchestan province Brigadier General Mohammad Ghanbari said on Wednesday that through extensive operations carried out by police forces, a drug smuggling-band who had intended to transfer a big consignment of narcotics to the province, has been identified and dismantled.
Following an armed clash between the police and the smugglers in Iranshahr County, the police forces captured 1,076 kilograms of opium, he added.
One vehicle has been seized in addition to confiscation of a number of weapons and ammunition, Ghanbari said.
According to the police chief, the smugglers fled to the highlands of the area using the darkness of the night.
Being a neighbor to the biggest producer of drugs in the world has caused the Islamic Republic of Iran to shoulder a heavy burden as one of the main routes for drug transport. 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. Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trafficking over the past decades.
Iran has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab, and Central Asian countries. The war on drug trade originating from some regional countries has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
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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