There has been a 32 percent decline in homicides so far during Ramadan, and the overall crime rate has dropped, too, Deputy Police Commander Hossein Zolfaqari told reporters recently.

The homicide rate in Iran is six murders per day, he added.

There is no motivation behind 50 percent of the homicides, and most of the murders were committed in the heat of the moment, Zolfaqari explained.

The Islamic Republic of Iran stands 50th in the world in the homicide rate, he noted.

About 15 percent of the murders are a result of family disputes, he pointed out.

Over the past five months, 48 percent of the homicides occurred in the provinces of Fars, Khuzestan, Tehran, Sistan-Baluchistan, and Isfahan, Zolfaqari stated.

 
A woman decorates the bowls of sholleh-zard, a dessert dish consisting of rice,
sugar, saffron, and fat, to distribute them to people to break their fast during the
holy month of Ramadan. (photo, Tehran Times)

There was a 34 percent decrease in armed robberies, a 67 percent decrease in bank robberies, a 6 percent decrease in car theft, an 8 percent decrease in house robberies, a 12 percent decrease in shop robberies, and a 6 percent decrease in kidnapping and hostage taking, he added.

He went on to say that 64 percent of all robberies occurred in the provinces of Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, and Fars.

Zolfaqari said the country's total murder rate is 2.8 homicides per 100,000 residents, adding that Ilam Province has the highest murder rate in the country and South Khorasan Province has the lowest.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the deputy police commander stated that the Iranian police has confiscated a much greater amount of illicit drugs and paraphernalia over the past five months compared to the same period last year, adding that there was a 382 percent increase in the amount of psychoactive drugs in pill form confiscated, a 231 percent increase in the amount of crystal methamphetamine confiscated, an 11 percent increase in the amount of crack cocaine confiscated, and a 147 percent increase in the number of syringes confiscated.

However, there was an 11 percent decline in the amount of heroin confiscated by the police, Zolfaqari said.