Police seize large cargo of morphine in western Iran

The Iranian Law Enforcement Police seized over 460 kilograms of morphine from a truck en route from the Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan to the country's Northwestern province of West Azarbaijan. Lieutenant Commander of Kurdistan's Police Department Colonel Jafar Ajang said the cargo was intercepted in Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdistan province, and before arriving at its destination in the West Azarbaijan province. “We discovered and seized 460 kilograms of morphine from a truck in the Western Kurdistan province,” Colonel Jafar Ajang told reporters on Saturday. Colonel Ajang said that two people have been arrested in the operation. Eastern Iran borders Afghanistan, which is the world's number one opium and drug producer. Iran's geographical position has made the country a favorite transit corridor for drug traffickers who intend to smuggle their cargoes from Afghanistan to drug dealers in Europe. Iran spends billions of dollars and has lost thousands of its police troops in the war against traffickers. Owing to its rigid efforts, Iran makes 81 percent of the world's total opium seizures and has turned into the leading country in drug campaign. Sistan and Balouchestan 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. More than 3,720 Iranian security personnel have been killed fighting drug smugglers since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.