TEHRAN – The Iranian police have seized 725 kilograms of heroin in a cargo in the southern province of Hormozgan, the IRIB News Agency reported Thursday.

The packaged heroin is the heaviest of its kind seized over the past 10 years in the province, Gholamreza Jafari, the provincial police commander, was quoted by the report as saying.

Two smugglers were arrested on a trailer transferring the heroin in 723 packages, Jafari added. 

Iran holds the record for narcotics confiscation in the world, Eskandar Momeni, the director of anti-narcotics police headquarters said in December 2021.

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 drug-control campaigns.

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

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, more than 3,800 have been 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.

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

MG