IRAN POLICE KILL SIX ARMED DRUG SMUGGLERS

TEHRAN, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Police in northeastern Iran killed six armed
drug traffickers in a shootout and seized 900 kg (1,980 lbs) of opium, a
newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The shootout happpened in the Khorasan province which borders Afghanistan
and Turkmenistan, the daily Kayhan said. It did not give the date of the
clash.

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

Some 1.2 million Iranians are addicted to drugs, mostly opium, in the
country of 60 million, officials say.

Iran says that 2,500 of its police and soldiers have been killed in clashes
with drug traffickers in the past 20 years.