TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazliannounced that the Iranian anti-drug squads have had more than 500 armed clashes with drug-traffickers in the last three months, adding that Law Enforcement troops are seeking to arrest drug lords through new tricks and tactics.The Law Enforcement Police are running more activities at the borders and have more seizures (of drugs) than the past in such a way that in the last three months we have had 555 cases of armed operations and clashes (with drug traffickers) and 22 percent growth in seizure of drugs compared to the previous three months and we have destroyed 92 laboratories used for synthesizing crystal (methamphetamine) in this period, Fazli said in a press conference in Tehran on Monday.
He said that Iran's anti-narcotics police force has recently been assigned to trace traffickers and real owners of drug cargos so that drug lords and the main hands hidden behind drug trafficking and dealing will be arrested.
The minister said the same police tactic has recently led to the discovery a big drug cargo. Recently, the intelligence forces used the same trick and led a huge cargo move from behind the borders into the country and then the drug-traffickers were dealt with severely in Kerman (province, Southeastern Iran).
Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian police have lost about 4,000 of their personnel in the country's combat against narcotics.
According to official estimates, Iran's battle against drugs cost the country around $1 billion annually. Strategies pursued by Tehran include digging canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire to seal the country's borders, specially in the East.
Iran has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime.
Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of seized narcotics as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs.
By Fars News Agency
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