Iranian Police Seize Over 8.5 Tons of Narcotics in Eastern Province
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s anti-narcotic police forces in the Eastern province of South Khorasan have seized more than 8,600 kilograms of narcotics since the start of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014), a provincial police official announced on Monday.
“From the beginning of this year, 8,671.2 kilograms of traditional narcotics have been seized,” Alireza Amini, the deputy police chief of South Khorasan Province told reporters.
He also said that the seizure of synthetic drugs in the province has decreased by 28 percent.
In recent decades, Iran has been hit by drug trafficking, mainly because of its 936- kilometer shared border with Afghanistan, which produces more than 90% of the world’s opium.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Islamic Republic is netting eight times more opium and three times more heroin than all other countries in the world combined.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 3,700 Iranian police officers over the past 30 years.
