Iran: 250 Tons of Drugs Seized in 6 Months

Xinhua -- Iran's police chief announced Monday that about 250 tons of drugs have been seized during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year starting from March 21, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Brigadier General Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam made the remarks during a meeting with a number of foreign ambassadors and charges d'affaires in Tehran.

A large quantity of the drugs have been seized in the country's eastern provinces that border Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Ahmadi-Moqaddam, adding that the police have taken many measures to prevent the illicit traffic of drugs across the eastern borders and managed to significantly reduce the drug smuggling.

He expressed regret about the increase in drug production in Afghanistan over the past few years, said the report.

In June, Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar called on the international community to help the Islamic Republic fight trafficking of narcotics.

Iran was paying a heavy price in combating drug trafficking, Mohammad-Najjar said, adding that Iran had spent over 700 million U.S. dollars to fortify its borders.

Some 3,600 Iranian troop members had been killed in fighting with drug traffickers near the border areas and more had been injured, the minister said.

Iran is located at the crossroad of international drug smuggling from Afghanistan, the world's top opium producer, to Europe.