NICOSIA Ñ Iran plans to establish new units to secure its borders
and halt illegal immigration and drug smuggling. They said much of the
illegal activities stem from the eastern border with Afghanistan.
Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Ali Rahmani, commander of the national police
political department, said the brigades of specially-trained officers would
help improve security in Iranian cities. Many of these cities have been
flooded by refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan and this has contributed
to a sharp rise in crime.
Iran, which is said to spend $800 million a year in efforts to combat
drug trafficking, is regarded as a major route for such drugs as heroin, Middle East Newsline reported. The
International Narcotics Control Board said Iran, estimated to contain
more than two million addicts, accounts for the flow of 80 percent of the
opium and 90 percent of the morphine captured by governments around the
world.
Iranian authorities said police seized 112 tons of illegal drugs and
arrested 306,000 people on drug-related charges in the last Iranian year,
which ended March 20, 2002. Most of the drugs were said to have arrived from
Afghanistan.
Teheran has urged Afghanistan to end the growing of opium poppies along
the Iranian border. Officials said Iran has drafted plans to provide
incentives to Afghan farmers to replace the poppies for food crops.
Western diplomats said Iran appears to have forced out tens of thousands
of refugees from Afghanistan. Iran said it removed 157,000 illegal
immigrants but did not specify.
The United Nations said the sudden increase in the flight of the
refugees from Iran was the result of pressure from the government in
Teheran. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that
during the first week of August, nearly 10,000 refugees were forced out of
Iran.
During July, 6,500 refugees a week were forced out of Iran, most of them
to Afghanistan. The agency said that those who were forced out of Iran from
April to Aug. 10 reached 124,500.
For its part, Iran reports that about 205,000 refugees have left Iran
since April. Iranian officials said the repatriation was voluntary and
carried out under a tripartite accord signed in Geneva on April 3 by Iran,
Afghanistan and the United Nations. The accord calls for the repatriation of
400,000 Afghan refugees by March.
In remarks reported by the official Islamic Republic News Agency,
Rahmani said the new border security forces would require cooperation from
other agencies. He cited the Basij forces, composed of pro-regime
vigilantes, which have been used to crush dissent and help in border
control.
