Deputy Border Police Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Garavand on Friday said that in clashes with armed bandits and smugglers, several drug rings and smuggling networks were disbanded and over 1.7 tons of illicit drugs were seized by the country's border guards in the first month on the current Iranian year (March 21 - April 20, 2014).
He said that border police forces also discovered and seized some 2 million liters of smuggled fuel in the same period.
According to the senior commander, more than 100 cars and boats used by smugglers were also impounded and the smugglers were handed over to the judiciary for legal proceedings.
General Garavand went on to say that three bandits were killed in armed clashes with the country’s border guards last month.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used by smugglers as the main conduit to take narcotics to other countries.
Over the past three decades, the country has spent millions of dollars to seal its borders and prevent the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on the drug trade, a lucrative business originating in Afghanistan, has also claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers.