Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 27
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran Customs Administration’s officials seized 3.3 tons of illicit drug precursors from a transit container in the Shahid Rajaee Port, IRIB news agency reported Apr. 27.
The officials seized 150 packages of liquid acetic anhydride, which is internationally controlled as a heroin precursor. Each package weighed 22 kilograms.
The container was planned to be transited to Afghanistan through Iran’s Dogharoun border checkpoint.
About 2.5 liters of acetic anhydride, a colorless, highly combustible liquid with a strong pickle-like odor, is used for manufacturing one kilogram of heroin.
Iran is situated on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
The fight against drug trafficking annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to official estimates.
According to statistics, there are about two million drug users in Iran.
