Provincial Head of law Enforcement Department of Islamic Republic of Iran in Golestan(Province), General Ali Akbar Javidan, told reporters that a significant amount of drug has been seized in the province. Golestan provincial Police said the amount of uncovered drugs is equal to 2.25 tonnes (two thousand- two-hundred - fifty koilgrams).
"After ten days of unobtrusive intelligence operation, our colleagues in the anti-narcotics police department of Golestan province managed to detect a drug gang. Two arrests were made. One heavy- vehicle was confiscated. over two tonnes and two hundred kilograms of drugs including opium and hashish was uncovered. Over the course of last year (Persian year of 1396 that begins in 21st of March each year) the amount of drugs uncovered in Iran, shows a 58 percent increase. Most of the drugs uncovered is opium. We managed to seize significant shipments of narcotics that were gang-related. Many of these gangs were active in the east and center of the country, as well as our province. These gangs were disbanded in the year of 1396.Certainly drug smugglers and criminals do not have any safe haven in the Province of Golestan. The Law Enforcement Department, the Judiciary and the Government will deal a blow to them, in a decisive manner", says General Ali Akbar Javidan, Provincial Head of law Enforcement Department of Islamic Republic of Iran in Golestan.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common 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 over the past 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.
