Iranian Police Disband 1200 Drug Gangs: Deputy Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Hossein Zolfaqari announced on Monday that the country’s anti-narcotics forces have busted 1,200 criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking across the country.
“We have smashed 1,200 drug trafficking rings and identified (and arrested) 350,000 drug dealers,” Brigadier General Zolfaqari said in an address to a gathering in Tehran of Iranian governor generals, ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions abroad.
He added that the war on drug trade has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers and led to the injuries of 12,000 others.
The top Iranian official further pointed to security agreements with other countries, saying the Islamic Republic has signed security deals with 36 countries.
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.