Azernews.Az

Some 200 kilograms of opium was seized from a passenger car in northeastern Iranian Khorassan-e Razavi province's Kashmar Township, the province's police force commander said.

"We were informed that a smuggler driving a Peugeot passenger car was transferring a noticeable quantity of narcotic drugs from the country's southern provinces to Mashˈhad and was going to pass through Kashmar district. So we commissioned a team of anti-narcotic drugs campaign officers to pursue the matter," IRNA quoted General Bahman Amiri-Moqaddam as saying.

General Amiri-Moqaddam said that the smuggler was arrested and 200 kilograms of narcotic drugs of opium type, packed in ten 20 kilogram packs were seized from his car.

He said that the police forces have now started a vast investigation aimed at identifying and arresting the other members of that smugglerˈs drug band relying on the interrogation reports of the arrested man.

Eastern Iran borders Afghanistan, which is the world's number one opium and drug producer. Iranˈs geographical position has made the country a favorite transit corridor for drug traffickers who intend to smuggle their cargoes from Afghanistan to drug dealers in Europe.

Iran, located at the crossroad of international drug smuggling from Afghanistan to Europe leads international efforts in fighting drug networks and narcotic traffickers.

The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations since last year.