Azernews.Az

Thursday March 28 2024

30 kg of drugs smuggled from Iran seized in Azerbaijan

28 November 2012 21:00 (UTC+04:00)
30 kg of drugs smuggled from Iran seized in Azerbaijan

By Seymur Aliyev

More than 30 kilograms of drugs smuggled from Iran have been impounded in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security told Trend news agency.

The 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) claims Azerbaijan is frequently used as a transit country along major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe due to its location.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov, who heads the state body for combating drug addiction and drug trafficking, told APA news agency earlier that a 132 kilometer section of the Azerbaijani border with Iran remains uncontrolled.

"Afghan drugs are transported from there to Iran, Karabakh [a region under Armenian occupation] and then to Armenia. But this route was not reflected in official UN documents," Hasanov said.

He added that Armenians also grow narcotic plants in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

The US State Department last year allocated $1.226 million to Azerbaijan, $2.824 million to Armenia and $4 million to Georgia to combat drug trafficking.

The State Department said that according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), approximately 11 tons of heroin enter the Caucasus annually; 4 tons of that is either consumed or seized annually within the region; and 7 tons are smuggled to Europe. According to the US government, mainly opiates are brought to Azerbaijan from Afghanistan. The report said Afghan opiates transit Azerbaijan by three primary routes: from Central Asia and across the Caspian Sea; from Iran through the south of the country; and through uncontrolled territories of Azerbaijan. While international attention is focused on the Iran-Azerbaijan border and Caspian routes, Azerbaijani officials regularly identify the uncontrolled territories as a more significant threat, it said.

In Azerbaijan itself, mostly marijuana is grown in minute quantities, mainly for consumption in the region, the State Department said.

Azerbaijan was one of the first countries in the South Caucasus to become a party to the 1988 UN drug convention in 1993. Azerbaijan also started one of the first police units that specifically targeted drug trafficking in the region.

Loading...
Latest See more