Iranian Police Seize Some 560 Kilograms Of Drugs

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 17



By Umid Niayesh - Trend:



Iran's police seized about 560 kilograms of various drugs in the country's south eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.



The province's Police Commander Hamid Fahimi Rad said that the drugs including 400 kilograms of opium and 160 kilograms of hashish were discovered in a truck in Zahedan city, Iranian Fars news agency reported on April 17.



Iran shares about 900 kilometres 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 last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 21).



Iranian interior minister Abdol Reza Rahmani Fazli said on March 18 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces will undertake control of border roads, to manage drug smuggling into the country.



According to the official estimates, the fight against drugs annually costs Iran about $1 billion. The statistics also say there are about two million drug users in Iran.