Iran UN envoy urges global anti-drugs campaign

A top Iranian diplomat has called for a global campaign against narcotics trafficking, describing drug trade as the world’s most lucrative and widespread organized crime.

Iran's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Gholam Hossein Dehqani made the remarks in a session of the United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee on Tuesday.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been playing an important role in countering drugs smuggling from its eastern borders with Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, he said.

He pointed to the casualties that Iran has sustained during the war against drugs and added that Iran spends millions of dollars each year to control its borders and build barriers along the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent drugs smuggling.

Iran has been cooperating with Afghanistan and Pakistan to counter drugs smuggled via sea routes, Dehqani said, adding that the Islamic Republic has confiscated more than 7.5 tons of illicit drugs through exchanging intelligence with its neighbors.

Iran shares a long border with Afghanistan, the supplier of about 90 percent of the world's opium.

Over the past three decades, Iran has spent billions of dollars to seal its borders and prevent the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

The war on drug trade, a profitable business originating in Afghanistan, has also claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers and soldiers.