TEHRAN – Deputy Police Chief Ayoub Soleimani said on Sunday the total amount of illicit drugs confiscated across the country over the past three months have reached 800 tons.

Soleimani said the amount of confiscated narcotic shows a 4 percent increase compared to the same period last year, the Tasnim news agency reported.

The number of operations to fight illicit drugs has also doubled this year, he said.

Soleimani also said, “We have been working to reduce the casualties inflicted on police forces through smart operations and intelligence activities and (as a result) we had only one martyr this year.” 

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 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.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the U.S. sanctions against Iran have affected the campaign against drug trade.

MH/PA