A Ministry of Intelligence official in the province of Sistan & Baluchestan, in southeast Iran, says the largest ever amount of synthetic drug shisheh (crystal Methamphetamine), has been seized in the country.
"Following a series of complicated operations and collecting information, the department succeeded to seize 1,300 kilograms (approximately 2,900 pounds) of narcotics, including more than 850 kg (about 1,900 pounds) of the addictive synthetic drug, shisheh," the government official news agency, IRNA, cited the unnamed intelligence officer as saying.
The drug consignment was seized after the intelligence department forces and border guards clashed with an armed group of smugglers, entering Iranian soil via Afghanistan, IRNA reported. Two of the armed smugglers were killed, several injured or captured along with a significant amount of weapons and ammunition, the official maintained.
Based on the United Nations reports, Afghanistan ranks first as the producer of opium and Heroin in the world. Iran, being Afghanistan's neighbor, has always been the main route for smuggling narcotics to the western world.
Map of annual seizures 2016-UNODC
As recent as April 19, Bulgarian customs officials said they had seized 288 kilograms (635 pounds) of heroin found in an Iranian truck entering Bulgaria from Turkey. However, a significant amount of the drugs produced in Afghanistan is sold and consumed in Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian police have admitted that many of the so-called "industrial narcotics" distributed in Iran are homemade.