Iran drug bust
The drug combat squads of Iran's Law Enforcement troops have arrested an international drug trafficker in Sistan and Balouchestan province, and seized more than 800,000 kilograms of illicit drugs from his network, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced on Monday.

"An international drug trafficker is now in the custody of Iran's police; 800 tons of narcotics have been retrieved from him," Rahmani Fazli said, addressing a ceremony in Tehran on Monday.

He, meantime, said that the discovery of narcotics has increased by over 25 percent in the past five months compared to the same period last year.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are two origins of producing and trafficking various types of narcotic in the region.

The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations since 2010.

The Iranian anti-narcotic police have always staged periodic, but short-term, operations against drug traffickers and dealers, but the latest reports - which among others indicate an improved and systematic dissemination of information - reveal that the world's most forefront and dedicated anti-narcotic force (as UN drug-campaign assessments put it) has embarked on a long-term countrywide plan to crack down on the drug trade since five years ago.

The Iranian police officials maintain that drug production in Afghanistan has undergone a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

While Afghanistan produced only 185 tons of opium per year under the Taliban, according to the UN statistics, since the US-led invasion, drug production has surged to 3,400 tons annually. In 2007, the opium trade reached an estimated all-time production high of 8,200 tons.

Afghan and western officials blame Washington and NATO for the change, saying that allies have "overlooked" the drug problem since invading the country more than 14 years ago.