Illicit Drug Production in Afghanistan Up by 90%: Iranian Police
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Spokesman for Iran’s Police Brigadier General Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi highlighted the reason behind an increase in drug seizures in the country this year and said the production of illicit drugs in neighboring Afghanistan has increased by 90 percent.
In remarks released on Monday, Brigadier General Montazer-al-Mahdi said the police’s drug seizures have reached a record high this year compared to the seizures over the last ten years.
He said in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (which began on March 21), a total of 525 tons of narcotics have been captured from drug smugglers across the country.
The police spokesman added that according to reports, the production of narcotics in Afghanistan in 2017 has reached 9,000 tons, indicating a 90 percent increase compared to a year earlier.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
