Zahedan, Sistan-Balouchestan Prov., June 23, IRNA � Commander of the Border Guard police in Sistan-Baluchestan Province Brigadier General Rahambakhsh Habibi said on Tuesday that 12,114 kg illicit drugs were confiscated in along Iranian border regions in the first three months of the year (starting on March 21).

Habibi said the police also arrested 45 drug traffickers and killed six.

He said the confiscated drugs consisted of heroin, morphine, crack, opium and hashish.

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

Iran also seized 573 tons of drugs between March 2013 and March 2014, according to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.

Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trafficking over the past three decades.

The country has spent more than USD 700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past 34 years.

By IRNA