MASHHAD, Khorasan Province The Iranian Parliament here Sunday blamed insecurity prevailing along the country's eastern borders to the major drug producer Afghanistan.
"To curb insecurity along the eastern borders, drug control should be seriously followed," Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy told IRNA after a special Majlis committee visited the area to look into security issues plaguing the borders, particularly drug trafficking and armed banditry.
The committee is comprised of deputies who are members of the Majlis Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy and those representing the border provinces of Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchestan.
Mirdamadi put the blame for 80-90 percent of insecurity prevailing in the eastern borders on Afghanistan.
Iran sits on the crossroads of the international trade in drugs, i.e., from countries such as Afghanistan where they are produced to destinations in Europe, Persian Gulf and the Central Asian states, he said.
He noted that the tragic effect of the drug trade is that some of the drugs intended for international consumption also end up being consumed inside the country.
The scourge of the international drug trade is felt even more when one considers the contribution the country has made in trying to curb it. In 1999 alone, 740 drug dealers and 174 Iranian police officers were killed in drug battles in various parts of the country.
And, in spite of extensive and coordinated efforts over the past 20 years, Iran has not been very successful in its anti-drug struggle, Mirdamadi said.
Last month Iranian police burned 630 kilograms of narcotics in Sistan-Baluchestan in a ceremony marking the memory of all officers killed in drug-related battles in the country.
Since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, a total of 1,115 police officers have been killed in shootouts with armed bandits and traffickers in this border province alone, 35 of them in November last year.
Mirdamadi called on European countries to cooperate with Iran in battling this "scourge of mankind." He also blamed drug dealers for the increasing rate of kidnapping in this province which, he said, are primarily for profit.
Meanwhile, Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh, governor of the upper border Province of Khorasan, said that Iranian police forces have killed 40 armed bandits, mostly Afghan, in eastern parts of the country since Tuesday last week.
Since March 20, the start of the Iranian calendar year, 30 Afghan smugglers have been killed and nearly three tons of narcotics seized in Khorasan.
Earlier this month, an official with the training section of the police said that four regiments are to be deployed along the eastern borders to strengthen passenger checks and detect armed bandits, mostly Afghans, who operate along the border areas with Afghanistan.
Mehr-Alizadeh also said last month two elite police regiments were to be deployed along the border with Afghanistan to supplement current anti-drug efforts.
The Iranian Parliament has earmarked 200 billion rials to improve security along 950 kilometers of the country's eastern borders.
Earlier in July, Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari vowed to step up efforts for restoring law and order along Iran's eastern borders and to clean up the frontiers with Afghanistan.
About 100 kilometers of the country's eastern borders have already been fenced off and another 200 kilometers protected by electronic devices.
(IRNA)