3 Iranian border guards martyred in fight with drug traffickers

ZAHEDAN, Oct. 10 (MNA) – A border police official announced on Wednesday that three Iranian border guards have been martyred by drug traffickers in the border province of Sistan Baluchestan in southeast Iran. The three border guards were killed in the fight with drug traffickers on Monday night in the border region of Koshtegan, said Colonel Mahdi Mansourzadeh, the deputy commander of the border guard in Sistan Baluchestan. He also said during the last Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 19, 2013, thirteen border guards were martyred by drug traffickers. The colonel also announced that about 45 tons of drugs have been seized from drug traffickers in the border areas over the past six months. Mansourzadeh said since the border has been blocked by concrete wall, canals, and razor wire, the drug transit has changed route from land to sea. Sistan Baluchestan province has 1250-kilometer-long border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Drug traders in Pakistan and Afghanistan use Iran as a transit route for transfer of drugs to markets in Europe. Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the U.S. toppled the Taliban in 2001. Based on UNODC data, there has been more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past four growing seasons than in any one year during Taliban rule. Also, more land is now used for opium in Afghanistan than for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 92% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This amounts to an export value of about $4 billion.