Two Swedish citizens have been arrested in Iran for “drug trafficking”, Tasnim news agency close to the Revolutionary Guard reported on Wednesday.
The report says that the detained individuals were “key members” of an international criminal gang trafficking narcotics. The gang was recently “discovered” in Iran. However, there have been no recent reports of any drug-trafficking international group being identified or arrested in Iran.
The report does not say when the gang was discovered or if any other members were arrested.
Tasnim’s report says a large quantity of mostly “dangerous synthetic drugs” were also discovered.
Iran is one of the most commonly used routes for drug traffickers in the world, mostly for transporting narcotics produced in Afghanistan to Europe.
However, Iran is also known for arresting Western citizens on trumped-up charges and using them as bargaining chips in negotiations, especially for securing the release of government agents or spies arrested in the West.
Currently a former Iranian judicial official, Hamid Nouri, is under arrest in Sweden for serious human rights violations, including summary executions of political prisoners in 1988.
Nouri was arrested in November 2019 and his arrest warrant has been renewed several times.
At least one Iranian official, Spokesman of Iran’s parliamentary legal commission denied that Nouri is a former assistant prosecutor involved in mass killings in 1988.
