As Iran warns it is struggling to stop drugs flooding in from Afghanistan, Arabian Business looks at the two nation’s fight against narcotic abuse.
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IN PICS: Iran’s drug war
Iran lies on a major transit route for smuggling illegal drugs from Afghanistan towards European markets. An Afghan drug user is pictured smoking heroin in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2005. UN experts have warned that the country is turning into a ‘narco-state’. (Getty Images)
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has said that Afghanistan’s opium production increased from 6,100 tonnes in 2006 to 8,200 tonnes in 2007, accounting for 93 percent of global production. An Afghan heroin addict is pictured talking to police in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2005. (Getty Images)
Around a third of the drugs from Afghanistan that are not seized by Iranian police are consumed in Iran itself, creating a serious domestic drug abuse problem. An estimated 50 tonnes of drugs are seen before they were set on fire by Iranian anti-drug police to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Tehran, Iran in 2005. (Getty Images)
There are believed to be 1.16 million drug addicts in Iran and around 700,000 occasional usersn
Iranian police are seen standing before a row of accused drug smugglers at a police station in Iran, in January 2006. Iranian police said they arrested nine hashish smugglers who were moving drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Narcotic drugs are set ablaze during a ceremony for destruction of more than 60,000 kilograms of narcotic drugs in Tehran, in June 2006. Iran warned at the time it could let drugs through its territory to Europe if the UN does not provide the funding needed to combat trafficking. (Getty Images)
