Iran Police Drug Seizures in Hamedan Rises by 38%
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian police commander announced that the seizure of illicit drugs in the western province of Hamedan since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21), has witnessed a 38 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
“Since the beginning of (the Iranian month of) Tir (June 22), 521 kilograms of narcotics have been seized in the province,” said General Haji Mohammad Mahdiannasab, Hamedan police chief .
He added that according to a review of the types of the seized drugs, the demand for the traditional drugs, such as opium, has risen.
In recent decades Iran has been hit by drug trafficking, mainly because of its 936- kilometer shared border with Afghanistan, where the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says accounts for 90% of the world’s opium.
The United Nations has estimated in the past that opium trafficking makes up 15 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product, a figure that is likely to rise as international military and development spending decline with the NATO withdrawal at the end of 2014.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Iran is netting eight times more opium and three times more heroin than all other countries in the world combined.