Iran, Azerbaijan must intensify fight against drug smuggling: ambassador

"Unfortunately, smuggling is carried out along the Azerbaijani-Iranian border and both countries should take the necessary steps to address this issue. Azerbaijan and Iran reached an agreement during the debates held as part of a joint committee to combat drug smuggling," Bahrami said.

The ambassador said the narcotics problem in Iran is very accute, because the country is bordering on Afghanistan, where narcotics are produced.

"While, before the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, the volume of narcotics production in this country amounted to 1,200 tons, now this figure has reached 14,000 tons," the diplomat said.

Bahrami believes that narcotics are a tool in the hands of the countries which do not belong to the region and carry out military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 "If they are interested in destroying Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, then why they have increased production of narcotics?" I touched on this at my speech in UN as well. If Iran does not block the path of narcotics, the countries of the region will be caught up in networks of 'white death'," said the ambassador.

He said Iran spends $500 million to $1 billion to fight narcotics every year.

"Our police officers become victims of the fight against the 'white death'. In the country, we strictly punish crimes associated with narcotics. The detainees do not stand before the general, but before the Revolutionary Court," said Bahrami.

Over the past five years, the number of incidents involving illegal narcotics trafficking has increased by 71 percent, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry reported.

More than half of the Iranian citizens, serving sentences in Azerbaijan, are charged of narcotics smuggling.

/Trend News/