Iranian Police Seize 555 Kilograms of Opium
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Two armed smugglers carrying a large quantity of illicit drugs were arrested in an operation in the southeastern Iranian city of Khash in Sistan and Baluchestan province, an Iranian police official said.
Police Chief of Sistan and Baluchestan Province Colonel Eskini told the Tasnim News Agency that police forces in Khash managed to seize 555 kilograms of drugs in an armed conflict, which led to the arrest of two armed smugglers.
He said the police started the operation after they were informed that several armed drug traffickers are going to transfer a considerable amount of illicit drugs through the sidetracks of Khash-Zahedan road.
As soon as the smugglers saw the police, they started shooting and the ensuing exchange of fire ended in the arrest of two of them and seizure of 555 kilograms of opium, Colonel Eskini added.
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.