Pubdate: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 Source: Tehran Times (Iran) Copyright: 2003 Tehran Times Contact: http://www.tehrantimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1903 POLICE SEIZE THREE TONS OF ILLICIT DRUGS ZAHEDAN, Sistan-Baluchestan Province (IRNA) -- Police commander in this southeastern province said here Saturday that over three tons of illicit drugs were seized throughout the province in the past several days. Colonel Nasser Akbarzadeh told IRNA that in one operation over 1.7 tons of hashish and heroin and in another, which continued until Friday night, 1.3 tons of opium were seized. Since the beginning of the current Iranian year (stared March 21) over 19.7 tons of narcotics have been seized in the province, he added. In the same period, 30 smugglers were killed and 31 arrested, and handed to judicial authorities, he said. Iran lies on the crossroads of a major drug trafficking route originating mainly from Afghanistan. More than 3,000 members of Iran's armed forces have been killed in cross-border clashes with drug traffickers during over 20 years of instability in neighboring Afghanistan. According to official estimates, Iran's anti-drug campaign costs the country about $800 million annually. It is credited with 80 percent of the opium and 90 percent of the morphine intercepted worldwide by the International Narcotics Control Board. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin