Iran Demands Stronger Int'l Action against Drug Trafficking

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Parent Category: سرویس اصلی

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TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli urged the international bodies and western countries to feel more responsible in campaign against worldwide drug trafficking.

"Narcotics is a global problem and it is considered as a crisis in the UN and everyone should feel responsibility in this regard," Rahmani Fazli told reporters upon his arrival in Vienna to attend the 58th Annual Meeting of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on Monday.

He reiterated that Iran is an influential country in the anti-drug campaign, and said, "Iran is the neighbor of a country that supplies 90 percent of the world opium."

Rahmani Fazli pointed to his upcoming meeting with UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov, and said he will have direct talks with him over Iran's drug issues.

He, meantime, noted that Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are to have a trilateral meeting at the presence of Fedotov on the sidelines of the UNODC's annual meeting.

In February, Fedotov voiced the UN body's pleasure in the unparalleled efforts made by Iran in its massive campaign against drug trafficking all throughout the past decades.

"No country in the world can compete with Iran when it comes to the amount of the narcotics discovered and seized," Fedotov told reporters on the sidelines of an international meeting on anti-drug campaign.

He noted that UNODC and Iran are planning further mutual cooperation in the fight against narcotics, and said, "The UNODC and Iran will finalize a five-year anti-drug plan in the next two months."

Fedotov said after holding meetings with senior Iranian anti-drug officials, the UNODC has prepared a list of the equipment needed by Iran, but the country could not have supplied them due to the western sanctions.

"After being finalized, the list will be reviewed in an upcoming meeting of the UNODC in New York and we will try to supply Iran with the needed equipment," the UNODC executive director promised.

According to the UNODC World Drug Report, Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin seizures (30 percent) in the world last year.

According to official estimates, Iran's battle against drugs cost the country around $1 billion annually. Strategies pursued by Tehran include digging canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire to seal the country's borders, specially in the East.

TEHRAN (FNA)-Mon Mar 09,2015