TEHRAN – Despite the difficult conditions caused by the global pandemic, Iran managed to discover 1,200 tons of narcotics in 2020, an increase of 41 percent compared to 2019, showing Iran’s adherence to international obligations, Eskandar Momeni, the director of headquarters for the fight against narcotics, said.

“The world has been fighting against drugs for more than a century, but unfortunately, we are witnessing an increase in the production, trafficking, and consumption of drugs, so that over the past 10 years, drug use has doubled,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, production of narcotics is increasing, while over the last two decades, with the presence of the occupiers in this country, production and cultivation have been 50-folded, he lamented.

Anti-narcotics police have also seized illegally acquired assets of drug traffickers worth 120 trillion rials (nearly $2.8 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) over the past 10 months, he added.

He went on to note that unfortunately, nine persons were martyred and tens were wounded or disabled in the fight against drug trafficking over the current [Iranian calendar] year, IRNA reported on Monday.

Iran is highly committed to international obligations in the fight against narcotics, unlike other parts of the world, as some 11 related organizations are endeavoring to counter the issue, he highlighted.

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 first place in the world, Momeni 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.

FB/MG