Anti-Narcotics Official Calls Iran Main Victim of Transit of Drugs to Europe

A senior Iranian anti-narcotics official said Iran is a major victim of the illicit drugs transited from Afghanistan to Europe since the country is the main transit route for the narcotics destined for the EU markets.

Addressing a meeting of anti-drug agencies of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states here in Tehran on Wednesday morning, Deputy Secretary-General of Iran’s Anti-Drug Headquarters Taha Taheri called for serious confrontation against drug production and trafficking in ECO states.

He pointed to Iran’s all-out war on narcotics, and stressed that Tehran is spending heavily in the fight on narcotics and Iranian police forces seized 530 tons of different types of narcotics in 2012.

Eastern Iran borders Afghanistan, which is the world’s number one opium and drug producer. Iran’s geographical position has made the country a favorite transit corridor for drug traffickers who intend to smuggle their cargoes from Afghanistan to drug dealers in Europe.

According to the World Drug Report 2012, the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2010 was ranked first in terms of opium and heroin seizures, accounting for 81% of the world opium seizures and 34% of the world heroin seizures.

According to the UNODC, these days, 93 percent of the world’s opium is produced in the neighboring Afghanistan, 60 per cent of which is destined for the EU and specially US markets, and the main transit route is Iran, where the country’s dedicated police squad risk their lives to make the most discoveries of drug cargoes, disband drug-trafficking gangs and organizations and much more in a bid to rescue not only the Iranian youth but also all those living in Europe and the US.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has lost more than 3,720 of its security forces in the war against drug traffickers.

Iran has always complained about the EU and other international bodies’ lack of serious cooperation with Iran in the campaign against drug trafficking from Afghanistan.