Azerbaijan, Lankaran, March 13 / Trend , P.Aliyeva/
A resident of the Yardimli region was arrested on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border after selling two kilograms of drugs. Yardimli is located 230 kilometers south of Baku.
Yardimli police officers arrested Zevin village resident Mais Imashov, 30, on March 12, after he tried to sell two kilograms of opium for $3,000, Yardimli Region Police Department Chief Shamil Seyidov told Trend on March 13.
Imashov said he brought the drugs from Iran.
The officers found 35 grams of opium while searching his house.
The Yardimli Region Police Department filed a lawsuit in the case.
The Interior Ministry reported that some 651 kilogram of drugs were seized in 2008.
Narcotics crimes increased by 39.2 percent in 2008 and 312 people were arrested.
In 2008, the U.S. State Department issued a report stating that the number of drugs users is increasing in Azerbaijan. The report also outlined drug transit routes from Azerbaijan to Central Asia and Iran. One route passes from Iran to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The report said drugs are transported from Azerbaijan to Russia and then Eastern and Central Asia.
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