TEHRAN – Two large drug trafficking gangs were disbanded in the southeastern part of the country, and some 3.5 tons of various narcotics were seized.

Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, border commander of the police force, announced the confiscation of a large drug-smuggling gang and the discovery of 1,273 kilograms of opium in the Saravan border region in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

Also, 2,200 kilograms of opium were found from a large drug trafficking gang in the Chabahar region of Sistan and Baluchestan province.

Moreover, anti-narcotics police have dismantled a gang and confiscated nearly 3.7 tons of narcotics in Sistan-Balouchestan province on Friday.

Iran, which has a 900-kilometer 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, Iran 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.

Iran ranks first worldwide in narcotics seizure

Iran seized some 1,000 tons of narcotics in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 20), putting the country in the first place in the world, Eskandar Momeni, the director of headquarters for the fight against narcotics, said in July.

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.

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.

FB/MG