TEHRAN – Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Pakistan’s Minister for Narcotics Control, has pledged to further strengthen cooperation with Iran to combat drug trafficking.

The fight against drugs is of global importance because today the serious threat is imposed on the young generation caused by drug use, Ahmed Shah said during a meeting with the chief of the Iranian anti-narcotics police Majid Karimi in Islamabad on Tuesday.

“Each country may have its own methods and approach to dealing with drug trafficking, but in Pakistan, we are looking to cut off the demand for drugs and if the demand is stopped, it will be easier to deal with supply and trafficking,” he explained.

Emphasizing the need to strengthen Iran-Pakistan border cooperation, he welcomed Iran's initiatives and proposals to effectively combat drug trafficking.

Karimi also met his Pakistani counterpart, Mohammad Arif Malik, during a meeting on Monday in Islamabad, through which the two officials announced the agreement to establish an information exchange committee between the Iran-Pakistan anti-narcotics forces.

Referring to the increase in narcotics production in Afghanistan and the serious threat facing Iran and Pakistan, Karimi stated that the issue is now on the agenda and the Pakistani side promised to cooperate.

Any trafficking of humans, drugs, and weapons must be stopped in any way possible, which is why the Pakistani government's move to fence the borders is important and welcomed by Iran, he highlighted.

He also said that Iran would set up a center for narcotics detective dogs and assist in equipping it in addition to providing necessary training to Pakistani agents, IRNA reported.
Karimi also met the Interior Minister of Pakistan Sheikh Rashid Ahmad.

Iran’s anti-narcotics measures

Iran seized some 1,000 tons of narcotics in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2020), putting the country in the first place in the world, Eskandar Momeni, the secretary-general of Iran’s drug control headquarters, said in July 2020.

After the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), 3,800 were martyred, 12,000 were wounded and disabled in the fight against drug trafficking, Momeni announced.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The organization also officially announced that the world’s first place in the discovery of opium, heroin, and morphine belongs to Iran.

According to UNODC, Iran remains one of the major transit routes for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to European countries and has had a leading role at the global level in the drug-control campaigns.

UNODC World Drug Report 2020 estimates that in 2018, 91 percent of world opium, 48 percent of the world morphine, and 26 percent of the world heroin were seized by Iran.

Iran’s drug control efforts led to the seizure of 266 tons of different types of drugs during the period of April-June 2020, a 20 percent increase compared to the same period in 2019.

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