Iranian Police Smash Int’l Drug Ring, Arrest ‘Sultan of Heroin’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian anti-narcotics forces in the southern province of Fars managed to disband an international armed gang involved in drug trafficking and arrest a notorious drug lord, known as “Sultan of Heroin”, the provincial police chief announced.
Speaking to reporters in Shiraz on Saturday, Brigadier General Ahmad Ali Goudarzi said his forces were recently informed of an international drug ring’s illicit activities in Sistan and Balouchestan, Hormozgan, Tehran, Alborz and Kermanshah provinces.
The commander added that the police forces put the issue high on their agenda and kept a close watch on the main roads linking the Fars to other provinces.
He said a trailer truck was lately identified on a road near Shiraz and 400 kilograms of heroin were seized from it.
During the operation, a drug lord who was known as “Sultan of Heroin” was also arrested, Brigadier General Goudarzi said.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
