TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iran�s border guard police said its forces have busted two drug-traffickers in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan with over a ton of narcotics.



Commander of Sistan and Balouchestan's Border Guard Raham Bakhsh Habibi said on Sunday that the two traffickers were carrying the drugs inside their car and as soon as they knew they were surrounded by police forces, they set the car on fire and tried to escape but they were both arrested.


Fire fighters extinguished the flames after 20 minutes, and some 384 kilogram of half-burnt opium and heroin was taken out of the burnt car as well as arms and ammunition. More than 600 kilograms of the narcotics had been completely burnt inside the car.

Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used by smugglers as the main conduit to take narcotics to other countries.

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

According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin hauls (30 percent) in the world in 2013.