Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 22 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
The homicide rate in Iran has reduced by some 20 percent, Iran's Police Chief Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam said, ISNA reported.
Moghaddam made the remarks during the meeting with Russia's Intelligence Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who is on a visit to Iran.
"About 10 years ago there were some 2,000 people killed in the country, on the annual basis. Now this figure is down by about 20 percent," Moghaddam said during the meeting.
He added that other crimes in the country, such as kidnapping and armed robberies have decreased as well.
Moghaddam brought up some statistics, noting that about 95 percent of murders in Iran are solved by the police, while the percentage of solving such crimes as kidnapping and hostage holding is perfect, at 100 percent.
He said that Iran's police finds 19 cars of every 20 cars stolen in the country.
Speaking of the prisoners and convictees, Moghaddam noted that about 80 percent of detainees are drug addicts.
In December of 2012, head of Iran's Prisons Organization Gholam-Hossein Esmaili said the opposite, that the crime rate in Iran is growing and relevant agencies and organizations must do whatever is needed to stop it from growing further.
Esmaili noted that aside from the high crime rate, there are specific anomalies in the country, that do not fit within the Islamic system.
Iranian media outlets report that currently there are some 170,000 imprisoned people in Iran, while as International Centre for Prison Studies said in 2011 that this figure was from 230,000 to 250,000 people.
Esmaili said that of all those currently being held in Iran's prisons, 43 percent are drug addicts and drug dealers, while 28 percent are thieves.
In October 2012, Deputy head of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters Taha Taheri said there are more than 100,000 prisoners in Iran, serving sentences for drug-related crimes.
Taheri said that more than 3,600 police officers were killed during the drug combat operations over the last 30 years.
According to foreign media outlets, since October 2011 to October 2012, Iran had 488 people executed, 33 percent of which were accused on drug trafficking, and 13 percent accused of rape.