Tehran, July 13: An Iranian senior security official says the police have taken measures to reduce the amount of goods smuggled out of Iran to neighboring countries.
Commander of Iran’s Border Police Brigadier General Qasem Rezaei said the total value of the smuggling commodities from the northeastern borders have been decreased to $100 million annually from $500 million due to sealing off the frontiers.
“With sealing the northeastern borders, deploying new forces and using (monitoring) tools we protect our national wealth,” Fars news agency quoted Rezaei as saying.
He says the traffickers “smuggle fuel, sugar and foods” into Turkey and Iraq and in exchange they “smuggle anti-cultural goods such as alcoholic drinks and guns” into the country.
Iran also plans to spend over $150 million to further strengthen border security and block the entry of terrorists and drug smugglers into the country.
Iran, located at the crossroads of international drug smuggling from Afghanistan to Europe, has taken new security measures in its border provinces following terrorist attacks on its eastern and western borders.
“Some 150 to 200 million dollars will be spent on securing our borders”, said Iran’s police chief Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam.
According to the official, $73 million of the money will be invested in sealing the borders during the current Iranian year (started march 21).
“We have good intelligence about terrorist groups,” insisted Ahmadi-Moqaddam.
On Iran’s eastern border, the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist organization orchestrates cross-border attacks on Iranian officials and civilians.
To its west, Iran faces security threats from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) — an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Iran, the world’s leading drug fighter, makes 85 percent of the world’s total opium seizures. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country has lost more than 3300 of its security forces in its war against narcotics.
——Agencies