Police seized 240 tons of drugs this year (started March 21) and 77% of the operations were conducted in the four provinces close to the eastern borders, said Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni, deputy chief commander of Iran Police.
“A large cache of drugs were seized in eastern provinces which shows that counternarcotics operations begin right at the borders,” he said at a ceremony to introduce the new police chief of Semnan Province, ISNA reported.
He stressed that the police are determined to stamp out drug-related crimes and a significant number of law enforcement officers have laid down their lives in Iran’s war on drugs.
Momeni said, “Counternarcotics operations have been a major preoccupation for the past five years.” Joint efforts are needed between officials and citizens to help prevent drug abuse.
Iran is at the forefront of efforts to combat the illegal drug trade that stems from neighboring countries. The country is a transit route in a complex transnational supply chain. At the core of the ‘Golden Crescent’ lies Afghanistan, the source of 92% of the world’s heroin.
At the same time, around 1.3 million Iranians in a population of 80 million are said to be addicted to drugs, and officials say six million have been affected by drug abuse. This makes Iran one of the countries with the highest rate of drug abuse.
The UN anti-drug agency UNODC declared in March 2015 that it was finalizing a multimillion-dollar funding package to sustain Iran’s counternarcotics program.
Police are responsible for enforcing the law and providing security to citizens but without people’s cooperation “security can’t be guaranteed,” Momeni said.
The Law Enforcement Forces plan to hire honorary officers, and currently, more than 20,000 are working with the police, and 37,000 more are to be hired in the near future.”
