Azerbaijan, Baku, September 3 /Trend, N. Umid
Iran's police seized some 233 kilograms of opium and 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in Iran`s western Hamadan Province yesterday, the Hamadan Province's police commander, Mohammad Mehdian Nasab said, Fars news agency reported.
Three drug smuggling bands have been dismantled in police operation, he added.
Iran lies on a major drug trafficking corridor between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of a common border with Afghanistan, through which about 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
According to official estimates, the fight against drugs annually cost Iran about $1 billion. The statistics also say that there are about 2 million of drug users in Iran.
It was reported that 500 tons of drugs were seized during the last solar year and 215 tons during the first 5 months of the current solar year (started on March 21).
Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of various seized drugs as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs.