Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 16
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
More than 90 tons of drugs have been confiscated in the Iranian province of Hormozgan over the last nine months. This testifies to the frequent cases of drug smuggling by sea, Deputy Chief of Police Ahmed Reza Radan told journalists in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, Iranian news İSNA reported today.
"The police must be ready for this because the fight against smugglers over maritime borders requires an even higher level of preparation," he said.
"Iran fully controls its land borders in the fight against smuggling," he said.
Iran is located in a transit corridor between Europe and Afghanistan which is an opium producer. The Iranian government sent 1000 security representatives to the eastern border to combat illegal drug trafficking.
The border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan has become one of the largest free trade zones in the world for an illicit trade in arms and drugs and illegal migration, according to a report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Iran's border with Afghanistan is 900 kilometres. About 74 percent of opium smuggling falls to this area.
Iran has recently tightened the fight against drug trafficking.
Translated by NH
Edited by SM