Baku, Azerbaijan, July 22
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's police seized some 496 kilograms of various drugs in the country's capital city of Tehran on July 21.
The drugs including 495 kilograms of opium and 1.3 kilograms of morphine were seized from smugglers in the southern and eastern districts of Tehran during four simultaneous operations, the chief of the Tehran's counter-drug police, colonel Mohammad Bakhshandeh said, the country's Tasnim news agency reported on July 22.
Bakhshandeh went on to add that eight smugglers were arrested in the operations.
Iran is situated on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Gulf States. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
It was reported that some 500 tons of drugs were seized in the country during the 12-month period from March 2013 to March 2014.
The fight against drugs annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to the official estimates. The statistics also say there are about two million drug users in Iran.