Iran seizes 500 tons of drugs annually
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has said that the
country seizes 500 tons of drugs annually, IRNA news agency
reported Dec. 15.
According to him most of the seized drugs have been produced in
Afghanistan and traffickers make attempts to transit the drugs to
Europe through Iran.
Fazli made the remarks during a meeting with-his Austrian
counterpart Johanna Mikl-Leitner in Vienna. He also pointed to
Iran’s role in fight against terrorism and called for international
cooperation against extremism.
In turn, Johanna Mikl-Leitner said that the Islamic Republic sizes
about half of heroin that traffickers try to smuggle through Iran
to the Europe.
Iran is situated 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, over
which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
It was reported that some 490 tons of drugs were seized in the
country during the last year.
The fight against drug trafficking annually costs Iran about $1
billion, according to the official estimates. The statistics also
say there are about two million drug users in Iran.
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