Police Seize 1,126kg Opium In Zarand

Kerman, July 13, IRNA – Police seized some 1,126 kilograms of opium in an operation in Kerman, the public prosecutor said on Saturday. Talking to IRNA, Ali Mirza Beigi added that one smuggler was killed and another wounded during the clashes happened in a mountainous road leading to Zarand, Kerman province. Meanwhile, two automatic weapons and a sedan car were confiscated from the smugglers, he noted. Meanwhile, Mirza Beigi said that some 600 kilograms of opium was also confiscated few days ago in Zarand. According to the World Drug Report 2012, the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2010 ranked first in terms of opium and heroin seizure which account for 81 percent of the world opium seizure and 34 percent of the world heroin seizure. Nearly 4,000 Iranian security personnel have been killed fighting drug smugglers since the Iranian 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime. Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of seized narcotics as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs./end