TEHRAN - A sum of 251 kg of narcotics has been seized in the northern province of Golestan, the province’s police chief announced on Saturday.

Rouh al-Amin Qassemi said that the operation was carried out jointly with police forces from Yazd province.

According to Qassemi, after a series of intelligence and technical operations, anti-narcotics police identified and arrested a drug smuggler in Yazd province.

The suspect had been hiding illicit drugs in his residence in Golestan province, he said, adding that anti-narcotics police seized 150 kg of opium and 101 kg of hashish during the operation.

Iran is in the forefront of the fight against drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan. About 4,000 Iranian police forces have been killed in the fight against drug cartels.

Europe is the main destination of drugs produced in Afghanistan.

In April 2019, Iranian Police Chief Hossein Ashtari described Iran as a pioneering state in the campaign against drug trafficking, and said, "We have declared our information and needs to the international organizations but I should say that we have not pinned hope on their aid."

"We do not have hope that the international organizations can seriously confront" the cultivation and production of narcotics in Afghanistan, General Ashtari said.

The Iranian police officials say that opium production in Afghanistan has undergone a 50-fold increase since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2001.