TEHRAN - Eskandar Momeni, the director of anti-narcotics police headquarters, has said it is a very serious threat that around 90 percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan.

“We pursue the four main issues of confrontation, treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation. The issue of prevention is a long-term strategy because we are neighboring a country that is the hub of opium production,” Momeni said, adding that opium production has increased with the support of the United States over the past 20 years, ILNA reported.

On August 15, Tehran police chief Hossein Rahimi announced that more than 3,400 smugglers of narcotics were arrested through a plan called Zafar, literally meaning victory.

Anti-narcotics police officers arrested 3,424 drug distributors and discovered more than 2 tons of narcotics in the implementation of the 18th phase of the plan, he explained, IRNA reported.

He went on to say that eight houses were officially sealed and 19 firearms were discovered from drug dealers.

World record for narcotics seizure

Iran holds the record for narcotics confiscation in the world, Momeni said in December 2021.

Iran holds the record for narcotics confiscation in the world. However, great achievements in the field of countermeasures have been gained, and the United Nations has officially announced that 90 percent of opium, 70 percent of morphine, and 20 percent of world heroin have been discovered by Iran.

In the Iranian calendar year ended in March 2021, about 1,200 tons of drugs were discovered, which was the highest rate of discovery in the world.

According to figures released by the United Nations in 2000, Afghanistan produced about 200 tons of narcotics, but in 2018, it has grown to 9,500 tons.

In other words, the production of narcotics has increased fifty times, which has doubled the need for prevention efforts, he highlighted.

Despite the conditions caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the imposition of harsh sanctions against the country, fortunately, with the efforts of anti-narcotics police in 2020, drug detection increased by 41 percent.

After the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), 3,800 were martyred, and 12,000 were wounded and disabled in the fight against drug trafficking.

The UNODC has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

MG