Two armed smugglers carrying a large cache of illicit drugs were arrested in an operation in the southeastern city of Kash in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, said provincial police chief, Colonel Eskini. “Police in Kash managed to seize 555 kg of drugs in an armed clash, which led to the arrest of the two smugglers,” IRNA quoted him as saying. The operation started after police received information that several armed drug traffickers were planning to transfer drugs via the sidetracks of the Kash-Zahedan road. Drug trafficking is a perpetual problem in Iran, mainly because of its 936 km common border with Afghanistan, which the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says accounts for 90% of the world’s opium production.
