Police Seize about 700kg of Opium in Southern Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s anti-narcotics police forces in the southern province of Kerman have managed to seize about 700 kilograms of opium in a single operation, the provincial police chief announced.
Following massive intelligence activities in Baft, Kerman Province, the police forces managed to identify a vehicle carrying a huge cargo of illicit drugs on a main road near the city, Brigadier General Reza Baniasadifar said on Saturday.
In the operation, the forces spotted the vehicle and gave chase, the commander said, adding that finally, after the police forces opened fire, the vehicle was forced to stop.
He went on to say that the drug traffickers made their escape under cover of darkness, but police forces seized about 663.23 kilograms of opium from the vehicle.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
