TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian law enforcement and border guard police have disbanded 26 international drug trafficking cartels and gangs since March, a police commander said on Tuesday.
"26 important international drug trafficking groups and networks have been disbanded this year and we have had an 11% growth in capturing the drug traffickers," Commander of Iran's Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan Law Enforcement Police Force Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi told reporters in Zahedan on Tuesday.
He also said that since the start of the current Iranian year (March 20), the police's seizure of weapons, detention of outlaws and discovering abduction have increased 31%, 133% and 25% respectively.
Iran is on a crossroad of international drug transit route linking the world drug hub, Afghanistan, to the Persian Gulf and European countries. The country has long complained that the global community, specially the western nations, do not contribute their role in the campaign against drugs, saying that Iran is making lone efforts to block the transit of narcotics from Afghanistan to Europe and the US.
Meantime, the Iranian police officials maintain that drug production in Afghanistan has undergone a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. While Afghanistan produced only 185 tons of opium per year under the Taliban, according to the UN statistics, since the US-led invasion, drug production has surged to 3,400 tons annually. In 2007, the opium trade reached an estimated all-time production high of 8,200 tons.
Iran spends billions of dollars and has lost thousands of its police troops in the war against traffickers and terrorists. The crackdown has cost Iran more than 700 million dollars over the past two years. Every year, Iran allocates millions to strengthen border security and block the entry of terrorists and drug traffickers into the country.
Strategies pursued by Tehran include digging canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire to seal its borders.
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