Police seize over 13 tons of narcotics in western Iran

Iran's drug combat squads have seized more than 13 tons of narcotics in the Western province of Hamedan since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 21), a provincial police chief announced on Monday. “We have discovered and seized 13 tons of various types of laboratory-made and conventional narcotics in the current year,” Head of the Drug Combat Squad of Hamedan Police Colonel Reza Qassemi said on Monday, addressing a meeting in the Western Hamedan province. He noted that 1,928 drug traffickers have been arrested and 17 percent of drug gangs in Hamedan province have also been identified and disbanded in the said period. Iran lies on a transit corridor between opium producing Afghanistan and drug dealers in Europe. Sistan and Baluchestan province, where Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan come together, has porous borders, where bandits and drug traffickers operate despite frequent entanglements and intense efforts of the Iranian law enforcement police. According to official estimates, Iran’s battle against drugs cost the country around $1 billion annually.