TEHRAN (FNA)- Irans drug combat squads have seized more than 256 tons of illicit drugs in the first five months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), a senior police commander said.We have discovered and seized more than 256 tons of different kinds of narcotics in the first five months of the current year, Commander of the anti-narcotics squad of Iran's Law Enforcement Police General Ali Moayyedi said on Saturday.
He said that 166 tons of opium and one ton of crystal were seized from the drug traffickers in the said period, adding that 40 drug traffickers have been killed during the clashes with police in the past five months.
Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states.
According to the World Drug Report 2012, the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2010 was ranked first in terms of opium and heroin seizures, accounting for 81% of the world opium seizures and 34% of the world heroin seizures.
Iran has always complained about the EU and other international bodies' lack of serious cooperation with Iran in the campaign against drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian police have lost nearly 4,000 of their personnel in the country's combat against narcotics.
Sistan and Baluchestan province, where Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan come together, has porous borders, where bandits and drug traffickers operate despite frequent entanglements and intense efforts of the Iranian law enforcement police.
By Fars News Agency
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