Iran, Turkey Stress Closer Cooperation in Border Control
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Anti-Narcotics Police Chief General Mohammad Massoud Zahedian and his Turkish counterpart, Adnan Ozdemir, underlined the importance of efforts to boost cooperation between the two neighboring counters in border control and the fight against smuggling.
In a meeting held in the Turkish capital of Ankara, Zahedian and Ozdemir exchanged views about a range of issues, including ways to promote bilateral ties between the anti-narcotics police departments of Iran and Turkey to boost border control through exchanging information and carrying out joint operations.
In the meeting, the two sides also stressed the need to implement all the provisions of an agreement on the fight against organized crimes signed between the two countries’ interior ministries back in 2008.
Also, General Zahedian invited the Turkish anti-narcotics police chief to pay an official visit to the Islamic Republic.
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.