TEHRAN — Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province’s police have dismantled a drug trafficking band in Boroujen, foiling their attempts to smuggle narcotics into Iran’s central areas.

Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Police Chief Gholam Abbas Gholamzadeh said on Saturday that 293 kilograms of opium and 7 kilograms of heroin were confiscated during the operation, Mehr reported.

Gholamzadeh said three smugglers were arrested and handed over to the Judiciary, and three vehicles were seized.

The anti-narcotics police of the province have busted a total of 2.046 tons of different narcotics and dismantled 29 drug trafficking bands in the past nine months to December 21, he added.

According to the commander, the confiscation of narcotics in the province has witnessed a 10% growth in comparison with the corresponding period of last 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.

Eskandar Momeni, chief of Iran’s drug war commander, said last week that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been fighting against illicit drugs on behalf of the world.

Iran has seized over 12,000 tons of drugs within the past four decades, Momeni said.

He said 3,800 anti-drug forces have been martyred when fighting drug-trafficking.

MH/PA