UNODC Envoy Hails Iran for Anti-Drug Campaign Efforts

Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to Tehran Leik Boonwaat praised Iran’s efforts in the war on drug trafficking.

“I think what Iran is doing is very commendable,” Boonwaat told reporters after a meeting with Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli in Tehran on Saturday, AVA Diplomatic Reports.He underlined that Iran is helping a lot to reduce (the transit and trafficking of) the drugs that will otherwise end up in the streets of the European countries and the Persian Gulf states or even other parts of the world.

 “All kinds of assistance should be extended to Iran in this global effort,” UNODC envoy said.

Iran has always complained about the EU and other international bodies’ lack of serious cooperation with Iran in the campaign against drug trafficking from Afghanistan.

According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2013, Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin seizures (30 percent) in the world this year.

According to official estimates, Iran’s battle against drugs cost the country around $1 billion annually. Strategies pursued by Tehran include digging canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire to seal the country’s borders, specially in the East.

Iran has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime.

Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of seized narcotics as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs.