IRAN POLICE SEIZE MORE THAN THREE TONNES OF DRUGS

TEHRAN, - Iranian police seized more than three
tonnes of drugs in several raids, including a haul from a camel
caravan, Iran's media reported on Thursday.

The daily Qods said police killed three smugglers in a shootout after
stopping the caravan of nine camels in a remote region in southeastern
Sistan- Baluchestan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Three traffickers were also held and 1.3 tonnes of drugs were seized
in the raid which took place last week, it said.

Police also killed two armed smugglers in two other operations in the
same province, hauling more than a tonne of opium, hashish and
morphine, the daily Hamshahri reported. It did not give the date of
the raids.

Iran's news agency IRNA said police in northeastern Khorasan province
on Wednesday uncovered 550 kg (1,200 lb) of opium and heroin hidden in
a truck.

Police seized 183 kg (400 lb) of opium and heroin in the province
after a shootout in which one trafficker was killed and seven were
arrested, Hamshahri reported.

Reporting on anti-drugs operations in the past two months, the Sistan-
Baluchestan police chief said two boats smuggling drugs into Iran were
seized and their 19 passengers, 17 of whom were foreigners, were
arrested, Qods reported. He did not give their nationality.

He said four policemen were killed in clashes with smugglers in the
province during that period.

Iran is a key route for the trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan and
Pakistan, the so-called "Golden Crescent", to Europe and the Gulf Arab
states.

There are 1.2 million drug addicts in the country of 60 million,
officials say.