Vienna, March 18, IRNA - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif here Tuesday met on the sidelines of the nuclear talks with the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yury Fedotov.
�The UN official hailed Iran?s active efforts to combat narcotics, pointing out Iran had seized 388 tons of opium in 2012.

According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2013, Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin seizures (30 percent) in the world last year.

Tehran has time and again called for greater international support in its fight against drugs.

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

Over the past three decades, Iran 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 mostly in Afghanistan, has also claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian security forces.
By IRNA

 

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