Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, who is also head of Iran’s anti-drugs headquarters, held a meeting with Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yuri Fedotov, in New York.
Briefing the UN official on Iran’s latest measures in the fight on narcotics, Rahmani Fazli said there has been a rise in the volume of illicit drugs confiscated in the Islamic Republic over the past Iranian year, which ended on March 19.
He explained that Iran’s efforts have prevented a considerable amount of drugs from being smuggled into Europe.
The minister also criticized the European states for lack of cooperation with Iran, including their failure to provide funds and equipment necessary for the drug fight.
Rahmani Fazli then asked Fedotov to ramp up efforts to encourage Western countries to launch a “serious and practical” campaign against narcotics.
Iran is on a major transit route for drugs being smuggled from Afghanistan to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trafficking. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past three decades.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Iran is netting eight times more opium and three times more heroin than all other countries in the world combined.