Police Commander of Yazd Province Brigadier General Abbas Ali Behdani Fard said on Monday that 1,966 kilograms of various drugs were seized by the police forces in two separate operations in the last 24 hours in the province.
In this regard, 16 defendants were arrested and handed over to the judicial official, he added.
The defendants intended to transport the consignments to central parts of Iran from southern and eastern provinces, the police commander said.
Since the beginning of current Iranian year [starting March 20], more than 13 tons of various drugs have been confiscated in Yazd Province, which is the main route connecting the southern and southeastern parts of the country to the central and northern regions.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past decades. The country 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 has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
ZZ/IRN83837537
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