11 Iranian Police Killed in Drug Bust near Afghan Border

At least 11 Iranian police officers have been killed in a bloody clash with drug smugglers in Iran’s eastern province of Khorasan near the Afghan border. Four drug traffickers were also killed in the incident while a fifth was seriously wounded, say media reports.

The Khorasan province lies on a major drug route from neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan, the local police chief Gen Hamid Sharafi said two tonnes of drugs have been confiscated.

Iran lies on a major drug transit corridor — where militants, criminal organizations, and corrupt officials exploit opium poppy cultivation and drug trafficking as a reliable source of revenue and patronage.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has lost over 3,300 security personnel in a persistent counter-narcotics campaign that aims to rid its territories, especially the border provinces, of the menace