Talks With Turkey on Fighting Drug Trafficking

Iran and Turkey agreed to promote cooperation in various security fields, including the fight against illicit drugs. The Anti-Narcotics Police Chief General Mohammad Massoud Zahedian met his Turkish counterpart, Ibrahim Hakki Seydioglullari, in Ankara on Wednesday to explore ways to build closer cooperation, Tasnim News Agency reported. During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues related to the growth in production of narcotics and drugs in Afghanistan and ways to fight money laundering. With a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, Iran has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to drug lords in Europe and beyond. Despite the monumental economic and human cost, Iran has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades. It has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of the banned drugs  destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries. The war on drug originating from war-ravaged Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.