The Police Chief of Kerman Province Second Brigadier General Abbas Ali Mohammadian said on Monday that following comprehensive intelligence activities, the police forces of the province confiscated 2.602 tons of opium in collaboration with police forces of Alborz Province during an operation which was destined to Tehran and Alborz provinces from southern Iran.

The police forces tracked the haul of the illicit drugs in a fuel tanker, he added.

Two smugglers were arrested and have been handed over to the judicial officials, he said.

The police chief noted that the illegal load had entered Kerman province from the eastern provinces, which border Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trades originating from Afghanistan in the past four decades, despite its high economic and human costs. The country has spent more than hundreds of millions of dollars on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

According to reports, in 2018 alone, Iranian forces carried out 1,557 operations against drug traffickers, seizing approximately 807 tons of different types of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.