TEHRAN – The Iranian police have confiscated nearly 388 tons of narcotics during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 21).

With the permission obtained from the government, the police have established units in customs, as well as in border provinces where the smuggling of goods has been dealt with severely, and all these factors have led to good success in narcotics seizure, the deputy police chief Ghasem Rezaei explained.

Isfahan province has achieved good results in combating smuggling of goods so that in the first four months of this year, the volume of narcotics confiscated has increased by 57 percent compared to the same period last year, he highlighted.

During the aforesaid period, more than 388 tons of narcotics were discovered, which shows an increase of more than 44 percent compared to the same period last year, he noted, Mehr reported.

Iran is at the forefront of the fight against drugs, and to us, the health of youth is of great importance, and we are determined to fulfill it by fighting against drug use, he concluded.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The organization also officially announced that the world’s first place in the discovery of opium, heroin, and morphine belongs to Iran.

According to UNODC, Iran remains one of the major transit routes for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to European countries and has had a leading role at the global level in the drug-control campaigns.

UNODC World Drug Report 2020 estimates that in 2018, 91 percent of world opium, 48 percent of the world morphine, and 26 percent of the world heroin were seized by Iran.

Iran’s drug control efforts led to the seizure of 266 tons of different types of drugs during the period of April-June 2020, a 20 percent increase compared to the same period in 2019.

Drug use is a complex health and social problem worldwide, with half a million people dying each year as a result of drug abuse, he lamented, adding, drug use has entered a critical condition, and the international community is determined to tackle the global drug problem.

Hossein Rahimi, a police chief, has said three gangs of international drug trafficking have been disbanded in the capital city of Tehran since the beginning of this year, and 27 dealers were arrested. Moreover, over 1 ton of narcotics was discovered and 163 international traffickers were arrested.

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