Iran exchanging anti-narcotics information with 40 countries

Iran is exchanging information with a large number of countries in area of drug combat, Commander of the anti-narcotics squad of Iran’s Law Enforcement Police General Ali Moayyedi announced, and said his unit has send a liaison officer to the UAE. “The anti-narcotics police force exchanges information with more than 40 countries,” General Moayyedi told reporters in the Southeastern Hormuzgan province on Saturday. He pointed to Iran’s cooperation with other countries in the war on drugs, and said his unit has dispatched a liaison officer to the UAE to the very same end. “The UAE is one of the countries with which Iran’s Law Enforcement Police force has close cooperation, and the waters between the two countries have become unsafe for drug traffickers more than ever due to the very same cooperation.” Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian police have lost more than 3720 of their personnel in the country's combat against narcotics. 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. Iran has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime.