Kerman, Jan 26, IRNA -- A provincial police official said in Kerman on
Wednesday that since the beginning of the current Iranian year
(started March 20) over 51.48 tons of illicit drugs have been seized
throughout the province.
Colonel Hamid Gorizan said that the number of drugs traffickers
arrested or killed in shoot-out with the police has been 28 percent
higher compared to the same period in the year before.
"Afghanistan narcotics production will top 5,000 tons this year
heralding many unforeseen security ramifications for the region,"
the police official added.
If the total narcotics production revenues is in the range of dlrs
40-60 billion, "only dlrs 170 million will be earned by the farmers,"
the police official added.
Also, in related news, over 2,983 addicts, dealers and smugglers
have been arrested in Khorassan province in the month of Day (December
21-January 19), the local police reported Wednesday.
He added that over 366 kg of narcotics have been seized in the
same period in the moping-up operations carried out by the local
police.
"Of the people arrested 641 were addicts with the remaining
consisting of distributors and dealers," it said.
Anti-drug police have nabbed over 200 tons of illicit drugs
throughout the country during the first nine months of the current
Iranian calendar year (started March 20, 2004).
Drug confiscation has been unprecedented since after the victory
of the Islamic Revolution (1979).
Moreover, more security measures are being enforced by anti-drug
police in eastern parts of the country compared to the those in
previous years.
The number of organized crimes committed in Iran is less than
those in other states, but that this latest development should be
taken as a warning to all.
Some 1.2 million people are addicted to narcotics in Iran while
about 800,000 people use drugs occasionally.
Iran lies on the crossroads of major drug trafficking routes
originating mainly from Afghanistan.
More than 3,600 members of Iran's armed forces have been killed in
cross-border clashes with drug traffickers during 20 years of
instability in neighboring Afghanistan.
According to official estimates, Iran's anti-drug campaign costs
the country about dlrs 800 million annually.
The country is credited with intercepting 80 percent of the opium
and 90 percent of the morphine worldwide.
Iran seizes about 80 percent of drugs worldwide annually. Only
last year 200 tons of various types of drugs were seized throughout
the country.
The above article comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
... Payvand News - 1/27/05 ... --
