POLICE SEIZE THREE TONS OF ILLICIT DRUGS

ZAHEDAN, Sistan-Baluchestan Province (IRNA) -- Police commander in
this southeastern province said here Saturday that over three tons of
illicit drugs were seized throughout the province in the past several
days.

Colonel Nasser Akbarzadeh told IRNA that in one operation over 1.7
tons of hashish and heroin and in another, which continued until
Friday night, 1.3 tons of opium were seized.

Since the beginning of the current Iranian year (stared March 21) over
19.7 tons of narcotics have been seized in the province, he added.

In the same period, 30 smugglers were killed and 31 arrested, and
handed to judicial authorities, he said.

Iran lies on the crossroads of a major drug trafficking route
originating mainly from Afghanistan.

More than 3,000 members of Iran's armed forces have been killed in
cross-border clashes with drug traffickers during over 20 years of
instability in neighboring Afghanistan.

According to official estimates, Iran's anti-drug campaign costs the
country about $800 million annually.

It is credited with 80 percent of the opium and 90 percent of the
morphine intercepted worldwide by the International Narcotics Control
Board.