TEHRAN – A total of 100 tons of narcotics have been seized countrywide since the beginning of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 21), Majid Karimi, the chief of the Iranian anti-narcotics police, has announced.

Noting that last year, about 190 organizers and main elements of drug trafficking were identified and arrested at the eastern borders of the country, he added that since the beginning of this year, 7 drug smugglers have been apprehended.

Iran has achieved good results in narcotics seizure, as discovered 1,100 tons of drugs in 2021 and 230 tons in the first four months of 2022, he stated, IRIB reported.

World record of narcotics seizure

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

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, more than 3,800 people have been martyred and 12,000 wounded in the fight against drug trafficking. 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.

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 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.

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