TEHRAN (FNA)- Irans drug combat squads have seized more than 4,500 kilograms of illicit drugs in the Western province of Hamedan in the first ten months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014-January 21, 2015), a provincial police chief announced on Saturday.We seized over 4.5 tons of various types of narcotics in the first ten months of the current year, Hamedan Province Police Chief Brigadier General Mohammad Mehdian-Nasab told FNA today.
He noted that a total number of 75 drug gangs were disbanded during the said period, and said, "Some 7,381 criminals have also been arrested on drug-related charges in the said period, which shows a 22-percent rise compared with the figures of the corresponding period in the last year."
Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The country has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime.
The Iranian anti-narcotic police have always staged periodic, but short-term, operations against drug traffickers and dealers, but reports which among others indicate an improved and systematic dissemination of information reveal that the world's most forefront and dedicated anti-narcotic force (as UN drug-campaign assessments put it) continues its long-term countrywide plan to crack down on the drug trade which started over four years ago.
Iran has always complained about the EU and other international bodies' lack of serious cooperation with Iran in the campaign against drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
By Fars News Agency
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