Iran Police Seize 1,200 kg of Illicit Drugs in Single Operation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s anti-narcotics police forces have managed to capture about 1,200 kilograms of illicit drugs in a single operation in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, the police commander of the province announced.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Brigadier General Qader Karimi said that following intelligence activities, the police forces of the province identified and tracked a sedan car carrying a big haul of drugs near Bajestan south of the province.
He added that in an operation to capture the smugglers, one of them was shot dead by the police forces and two others were arrested.
The commander went on to say that after searching the vehicle, the forces managed to seize nearly a ton of opium and 200 kilograms of hashish.
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 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.