Baku, Azerbaijan, April 14
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's police seized about 700 kilograms of various drugs in the country's south eastern province of Kerman.
The province's Police Commander Hossein Chenarian said that the drugs including opium and hashish were seized from armed smugglers during an operation last night, Iranian ISNA news agency reported on April 14.
Chenarian went on to say that three smugglers were arrested in the operation.
Iran is situated on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Gulf States.
The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometres of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
It was reported that some 500 tons of drugs were seized in the country during the last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 21).
Iranian interior minister Abdol Reza Rahmani Fazli said on March 18 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces will undertake control of border roads, to control drug smuggling into the country.
According to the official estimates, the fight against drugs annually costs Iran about $1 billion. The statistics also say there are about two million drug users in Iran.
Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of seized drugs as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs.