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Though the chief of Iran's national police force, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, had ‎previously announced a sharp reduction in the volume of drug imports into Iran, the ‎police commander for drug control reported this week the discovery of 35 tons and 299 ‎kilograms of various kinds of drugs and 15-thousand drug related arrests in the first ‎month of the Persian new year (which began on March 20th, 2008) alone. ‎

Releasing statistics on the number of drug-related deaths and arrests in the first month of ‎the new year, Hamid Reza Hosseinabadi said, “In Farvardin [March-April] of this year, ‎the police carried out 161 anti-drug operations in which 53 smugglers were killed, two ‎injured, and 15 thousand and 769 drug smugglers and distributors were arrested.” ‎

The police commander for drug control noted that in Farvardin alone 1 ton and 442 ‎kilograms of heroin (indicating a 39% increase compared to same period last year), 30 ‎tons and 828 kilograms of opium (40% increase), 101 kilograms of morphine, 2 tons and ‎‎692 kilograms of Hashis and 234 kilograms of other drugs were discovered and seized by ‎the polices. Hosseinabadi added: “Discovery of drugs in Farvardin of 1387 showed a 16 ‎percent increase compared to the same period last year.” ‎

Hosseinabadi singled out the provinces of Sistan va Baluchistan, Kerman, Fars, ‎Hormozgan, Khorasan Razavi, Western Azerbaijan and Yazd as centers for import and ‎distribution of drugs. ‎

The figures released by Hosseinabadi, while showing a 16 percent increase in drug ‎seizures compared to same period last year, also suggest that an unprecedented amount of ‎drugs are flowing into the country. ‎

The news is released despite remarks by Iran’s police chief Esmail Ahamdi Moghaddam ‎that, ever since the coming to power of Ahmadinejad and Ahmadi Moghaddam's ‎appointment to his post, the import of drugs from Afghanistan to Iran has decreased from ‎‎70 percent to 31 percent. ‎

Hundred Billion Dollar Budget

Last year, the budget for the government’s drug control agency (Setad-e Mobarezeh ba ‎Mavad-e Mokhadder) was increased from 20 billion Tomans [about 22 million USD] to ‎‎103 billion Tomans [about 112 million USD], which will be spent on securing Iran’s ‎Eastern borders and combat drug trafficking. ‎

In this connection, the deputy head of the drug control agency Mohammad Reza Jahani ‎said, “In the years 1385 and 1386 (1996 and 1997), 500 kilometers of canals, 110 ‎kilometers of barbed wire, and 200 kilometers of concrete walls were built in border ‎areas. However, smugglers continue to invent new methods to subvert our efforts every ‎day, because they cannot forego the billions in profit from drug trade.” ‎

Previously, Iran’s police chief Ahmadi Moghaddam had claimed: “According to figures ‎released by the United Nations, in 2005, 62 percent of all drugs imported into Iran for use ‎or transport came from Afghanistan. In 2006, when the Rasul-il Akram station was built, ‎this number was reduced to 41 percent and 31 percent in 2007. Today, in their opinion ‎‎[U.N.'s], 70 percent of drugs are not transited through Iran, which is a very significant ‎achievement.” ‎