Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Brigadier General Azizollah Maleki pointed to several major operations by his forces in the province, saying that following intelligence operations over the past week, 63 drug smugglers were identified and arrested.
During the operations, the security forces seized 4608 kilograms of various types of illicit drugs, including 3218 kg of opium, he noted.
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 34 years.
