Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced on Sunday that its forces in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan have seized one of the biggest hauls of heroin confiscated in recent years.
In a statement, the ministry said the drug shipment weighs 1,075 kilograms, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The shipment was detected at Bazargan border region in northwest Iran before an international drug ring could smuggle it into Europe, it added.
The smugglers had adroitly hidden the illicit drugs inside export commodities, the statement said, adding that it was one of the largest hauls seized in recent years.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking for decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing 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 four decades.
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