2.5-ton drug cargo seized in south Iran

Iran’s Border Guards deputy commandment for operations says the forces have managed to capture 2.5 tons of narcotics in a mission in the southern province of Hormuzgan.

According to Press TV, General Hamid Sharafi stated following intelligence works, Hormuzgan’s marine guards managed to discover and seize the cargo at Qeshm Island’s Hamoun dock in the early hours of Thursday.
Sharafi said traffickers had planned to smuggle the cargo – which included hashish and opium – into the country via the sea, adding that three people were arrested in the operation.
Iran is one of the countries that has been actively fighting drug trafficking in the past three decades despite high economic and human costs.
The Islamic Republic has spent more than USD 700 million to seal its borders and prevent the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past 33 years.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Iran nonetheless is netting eight times more opium and three times more heroin than all the other countries in the world combined.