Iran announced on Thursday that the country's Law Enforcement and security squads have seized a total volume of 240 tons of narcotics in six months of countrywide operations, Fars news agency reported.
"240 tons of different types of drugs have been discovered and seized across the country in the first six months of the current (Iranian) year (March 21-September 22)," Deputy Secretary-General of Iran's Anti-Drug Headquarters Taha Taheri told reporters on Thursday.
He reiterated that the amount shows an 18% increase in the seizure of narcotics compared with the figures of the same period last year.
Iran lies on a transit corridor between opium producing Afghanistan and drug dealers in Europe.
The Islamic Republic has emerged as the leading country fighting drug trafficking after making 89 percent of the world's total opium seizures.
The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations in recent months.
The Iranian anti-narcotic police have always staged periodic, but short-term, operations against drug traffickers and dealers, but latest reports - which among others indicate an improved and systematic dissemination of information - reveal that the world's most forefront and dedicated anti-narcotic force (as UN drug-campaign assessments put it) have embarked on a long-term countrywide plan to intensify the crack down on the drug trade since the beginning of the current Iranian year.