Iranian Police Foil Drug Smugglers' Attack in Southeastern City
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's anti-narcotics police forces managed to foil an attack by armed drug smugglers on a police building in the southeastern border city of Khash in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, the provincial police chief said.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi said that after two operations against a drug ring on Thursday, in which hundreds of kilograms of illicit drugs were seized, the armed gangs attempted to retaliate by mounting an attack on the anti-narcotics police department in Khash.
He added that with the grace of God and thanks to the vigilance and timely action of the Protection Unit of the police department, the attack was thwarted.
During the armed clashes between the drug smugglers and the police forces, two gang members were injured, General Rahimi said.
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 three decades.