Report: A third of Afghanistan-produced drugs reach Europe via Iran

Almost one third of the illicit drugs produced in Afghanistan are transited to Europe through Iran, Tehran Times daily reported on Sunday.

International drug traffickers buy narcotics from Afghanistan and smuggle 30 percent of them through Iran to European countries, Parviz Afshar, the head of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said.

The illicit drugs produced in Afghanistan are also smuggled to western countries through the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean, Afshar said.

Afshar pointed to the geographical location of Iran and said that his country is the neighbor to Afghanistan in the east, where most of the illicit drugs in the world were produced.

He said the report shows that "it is not possible to completely abolish the death penalty for drug trafficking in Iran."

He also said that drug trafficking is harmful to the country's economy.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in 2015 that Afghanistan accounts for about 85 percent of opium production and 77 percent of heroin production in the world.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)