Police seize 10 tons of narcotics in southern Iran

The Iranian law enforcement police squads have seized over 10 tons of different types of illicit drugs in the country's Southern province of Hormozgan on the rims of the Persian Gulf in a single month, a provincial police chief announced on Tuesday Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hormozgan's Police Chief General Mohammad Ali Akhoundi said that seizures were made during the period from September 23 - October 22. Akhoundi added that the seizures included 8 tons of opium, 1,200kg of hashish, 812kg of heroin, 111.8kg of Crystal (methamphetamine), 32.7kg of crack (condensed heroin). He added that police disbanded 19 drug rings during the said period and arrested 360 individuals for drug related activities. In September, Akhoundi had announced that Iran's Law Enforcement Police had intensified their clampdown on narcotics trafficking in the province. "The war and confrontation against narcotics continues strongly and seriously across the province," Akhoundi told reporters at the time, adding that his forces continuously monitor all entry points and roads of the province. The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations since last year. The Iranian anti-narcotic police have always staged periodic, but short-term, operations against drug traffickers and dealers, but the latest 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 stated in the UN drug-campaign assessments) has embarked on a long-term countrywide plan to crack down on the drug trade since the beginning of the last Iranian year (started on March 21, 2010). The Iranian police measures along the country's Eastern borders have forced drug-traffickers to resort to other routes, including the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf, to smuggle their drug cargos which originate in Afghanistan and Pakistan.