Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 7
By Abbas Akhundov - Trend: Around 95 per cent of drugs have been recently brought from Iran to Azerbaijan, head of the main Department for Combating Smuggling and Customs Violations of the State Customs Committee Guloglan Muradli said on Thursday at the tenth meeting of the Committee of Heads of Law Enforcement Units of the Council of Heads of Customs Services of the CIS member states.
"According to the experts, around 35 per cent of drugs produced in Afghanistan are brought through Iran in the Balkan direction and 25 per cent via the northern route," Muradli said.
According to Muradli, the analysis of the facts revealed in the illegal transportation of drugs confirms that the traditional route is Afghanistan-Iran-Azerbaijan, then through Georgia or Russia to Europe.
Moreover, the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenian armed forces are not controlled by the Azerbaijani customs bodies and therefore widely used for drug transportation.
"Previously, most of the drugs seized in Azerbaijan fell to marijuana and other light drugs," Muradli said. "But today heavy drugs, mainly hashish, heroin and opium have recently reached 99 per cent."