IRAN SETS FIRE TO 51 TONNES OF ILLEGAL DRUGS

TEHRAN, July 2 (Reuters) - Iranian officials on Thursday torched 51 tonnes
of heroin and opium, enough to supply markets in Britain, Italy and France
for more than a year.

An archer shot a flaming arrow into a pyre of drugs soaked in petrol,
sending plumes of black smoke billowing over the northern Tehran hillside
as the Islamic republic marked the U.N.'s international day against drug
abuse and trafficking.

``We have come together...to eliminate such a scourge from human society,''
President Mohammad Khatami told a crowd of anti-drugs police, invited
guests and foreign diplomats shortly before the bonfire was ignited.

``Narcotic drugs and their prevalence in societies are the crucial factors
stupefying the mind and wisdom and threatening the health of mankind and
represent an obstacle to independence and development,'' Khatami said.

He said Iran was dedicated to combating drug smugglers, in particular
traffickers plying routes between cultivation centres of Afghanistan to
markets in Western Europe.

Iranian officials say the fight against drug trafficking has claimed the
lives of more than 2,300 agents in the last 20 years. They put the cost of
enforcement, including treatment of addicts, at $560 million in the last
Iranian year, which ended in March.

Earlier, the head of the United Nations anti-drug effort, Pino Arlacchi,
praised Iran's efforts and said other regional states must follow suit.

``Iran has set a striking example for others to follow,'' Arlacchi said.
``With this bonfire, the destruction of 51 tonnes of drugs, the region and
the world are a little safer.''

He put the value of the narcotics to be destroyed at $700 million and
estimated the quantity as one year's consumption in Britain, Italy and
France combined. U.N. officials estimate Iran accounts for about 85 percent
of opium and 30 percent of all heroin and morphine seizures.

``It is my opinion that Iran is shouldering too big a portion of the
burden...Others in the region need to do more,'' Arlacchi said.

Iran is a key transit route for smugglers from Afghanistan and Pakistan,
the so-called Golden Crescent, to Europe and the oil-rich Gulf states.
Iranian police seized 195 tonnes of drugs in 1997.

Domestic drug use is also on the rise, with up to a million addicts in the
country of 60 million people.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski