29 Mar 2024
Thursday 27 February 2014 - 16:20
Story Code : 86267

Top Iran police cmdr. killed by drug traffickers

Top Iran police cmdr. killed by drug traffickers

An Iranian police chief is killed in a shootout with armed drug smugglers in the southeastern part of the country, reports say.

Nourbakhsh Dehghani, who served as the anti-narcotics police chief of the city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, was shot dead during an operation against armed smugglers in the province on Wednesday.

The clashes occurred in a desert area near Kheyrabad village. Two drug traffickers were also killed in the conflict.

Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used by smugglers as the main conduit to take Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.

Over the past three decades, the country has spent millions of dollars to seal its borders and prevent the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

The war on drug trade, a lucrative business originating in Afghanistan, has also claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)s World Drug Report 2013, Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin hauls (30 percent) in the world this year.

By Press TV

 

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