Operational units of the police in the cities of Iranshahr and Zahedan in Sistan and Balouchestan Province managed to identify a major drug ring that transited big hauls of illicit drugs from border areas to central parts of the country, Brigadier General Mohammad Qanbari said on Sunday.
He added that in the operation, the police forces tracked three vehicles of the drug gang in the secondary roads of the province.
After about half an hour of an armed clash, one smuggler was killed and four others were arrested the police chief said.
Brigadier General Qanbari went on to say that the police forces also managed to seize 968 kg of opium, 50 kg of morphine, 16 kg of heroine, 8 kg of crystal meth, 10 kg of opium juice, 37 kg of hashish, and 11 kg of other kinds of illicit drugs.
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.