TEHRAN, Apr. 11 (MNA) – Islamic Republic of Iran and Kuwait emphasized on strengthening and enhancing bilateral cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.

Chief of Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Police Brigadier General Majid Karimi made the remarks in a joint bilateral meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart through videoconference on Sunday and stated, “With the mutual cooperation and interaction, we hope that the two countries of Iran and Kuwait will take appropriate measures in the fight against drug trafficking in the region.”

Turning to the high volume of narcotics cultivation and production in Afghanistan and the need to increase bilateral cooperation in combating ill phenomenon of drug trafficking, he added, “The volume of narcotics imports and drug trafficking from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Iran is at a high level in a way that most of the drugs imported from Afghanistan to Iran are smuggled and transited to regional and European countries.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the chief of Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Police pointed to the volume of narcotics discovered in the country last year (ended March 20, 2020) and in the current year (started March 21, 2021) and added, “The volume of narcotics discovered by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2020 stood at about 1,150 tons, the rate of which hit over 217 tons in the first three months of 2021.”

Chief of Kuwait Anti-Narcotics Police Colonel Mohammad Qabazard thanked Iranian side for organizing this virtual meeting held in the field of amount of discoveries of narcotics and stated, “Given the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as well as existence of problems in the field of dealing with smuggling and transit of narcotics, it is a matter of happiness that Kuwait has achieved salient progresses in the field of discovery of narcotics and arrest of drug traffickers.

Kuwait wants to increase interaction and cooperation with the Anti-Narcotics Police of the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields, he stated.

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