Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Over 490 metric tons of various drugs have been discovered and seized in Iran during the last fiscal year (ended on March 20), General Ali Moayyedi, commander of the Police anti-drug squad said.
The figure is almost unchanged from the volume of the seized drugs the last year, Moayyedi added.
He further said that police have carried out 1800 operations against the smugglers during the period.
At least 96 armed smugglers were killed during the operations, he said, adding the figure is 10 percent more year on year, Iran's state IRINN TV reported April 11.
Also 10 police officers were killed in the clashes with armed smugglers during the one-year period, Moayyedi said.
Without unveiling the exact figure of the arrested smugglers and drug addicts, Moayyedi said that the figure indicates a 30-percent increase in comparison with the preceding year.
Iran is situated on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of a common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
It was reported that some 500 metric tons of drugs were seized in the country during the Iranian fiscal year of 1392 (March 20, 2013 to March 20, 2014).
The fight against drugs annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to the official estimates. The statistics also say there are about two million drug users in Iran.
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