TEHRAN – Anti-drug police forces have seized illicit drugs after disbanding a gang of drug traffickers in the northeastern city of Mashhad, local sources announced on Sunday.

The sources said police forces of Khorasan Razavi province dismantled the drug-trafficking gang that was involved in distributing heroin and crystal in the metropolis of Mashhad.

12 kg of heroin and crystal were seized during the operation, the sources said.

They added that two foreigners and an Iranian national were arrested and handed over to the court.

Also on Saturday, the anti-drug police in the central province of Kerman seized more than 500 kilograms of narcotics.

Second Brigadier General Abodlreza Nazeri, the police chief of the province, said that the big consignment was seized after a series of intelligence operations in the Orzueeyeh region. According to the police chief, 544 kg of opium were confiscated and a vehicle seized during the operation. 

The Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trafficking over the past three decades, despite high economic and human costs. 

The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police forces over the past four decades. The country has spent more than hundreds of millions of dollars on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for lucrative European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

MJ/PA