DRUG SEIZURE DECLINES IN BORDER PROVINCE

MASHHAD, Khorassan Prov., Deputy governor general of eastern border
Khorassan said seizure of illicit drugs has decreased by 45 percent in the
first quarter of the current (Iranian calendar)year (starting March 21)
compared to the same period last year.

Hussein Zare-Sefat told IRNA that some 6.2 tons of drugs had been
confiscated from the drug runners in the first three months of the current
year while the figure stood at 11.2 tons last year.

"This year 5,225 kg of opium and 176 kg of heroin were part of the drug
seizures," he said adding that the seizures of hashish has risen to 438 kg
in the first quarter of the year showing a 174 percent increase compared to
the same period last year.

Iran is a major transit route in the international drug trade. Drugs
originating from Afghanistan or Pakistan are clandestinely ferried via Iran
to markets in the Persian Gulf, Europe and onward.

The government has armed thousands of villagers along its eastern border to
help combat this illegal trade that has now extended to the abduction of
residents for ransom or other purposes.