TEHRAN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran has seized more than 16 tons of various types of illicit drugs in the southern province of Hormozgan, the provincial police chief announced on Wednesday, according to Tasnim news agency.
The local police forces managed to identify 219 vehicles carrying drugs over the first three months of the current Iranian year, which started on March 21, Brigadier General Azizollah Maleki was quoted as saying.
Major volume of the illicit drugs included opium, hashish and heroin, Maleki said.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to Europe.
Over the past years, the country has spent more than 700 million U.S. dollars on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries, according to the report.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past 38 years.
