Sistan and Baluchestan (IP) - In a decisive move against organized drug trafficking, Iranian border guards seized nearly 900 kilograms of narcotics in two separate operations along the volatile frontier of Sistan and Baluchestan province, officials announced on Tuesday.

Iran Press/Iran news: Brigadier General Ahmad Ali Goudarzi, commander of Iran's Border Guards Police, hailed the operations as a significant success, attributing the results to meticulous intelligence gathering and rigorous surveillance of border activities.

Speaking to reporters, Goudarzi detailed the mission, explaining how border guards intercepted armed smugglers attempting to infiltrate Iran with large quantities of illicit substances. “Through precision planning and strengthened border security measures, these attempts were successfully thwarted,” he said.

The confrontation, marked by heavy fire, ended with the traffickers surrendering to security forces. Authorities confiscated a vehicle and a vessel used for transporting the contraband, alongside an arsenal that included a Kalashnikov rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition.

The haul comprised a diverse array of drugs, including 636 kilograms of opium, 209 kilograms of hashish, 47 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 8 kilograms of other substances, further underscoring the province’s prominence as a transit point for narcotics.

Sistan and Baluchestan’s strategic location along the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan has long made it a hotspot for drug trafficking, as the region sits at the crossroads of major smuggling routes. Iran, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan—the world’s largest producer of opium—has borne the brunt of the global narcotics trade.

Tehran has ramped up efforts to curb the flow of drugs into the country, deploying advanced monitoring technologies and bolstering its border security apparatus. In recent years, Iranian authorities have reported record-breaking narcotics seizures, highlighting the scale of the challenge in one of the world’s most contested drug corridors.

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