Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 20 / Trend, N. Umid
Iran's police seized some 513 kilograms of opium in the country's south-eastern Province of Kerman from drug smugglers, IRIB news agency reported.
One smuggler has been arrested and one other escaped, the report said.
Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, across which about 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
According to official estimates, the fight against drugs annually cost Iran about $1 billion. 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 more than 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.