Iran Drug Traffic To Skyrocket During Afghanistan Chaos

by Yassaman Taghibeiji

As the United States continues its war against terrorism on Afghan soil and opposition forces consolidate their hold, neighboring Iran is receiving a deluge of Afghan refugees, as well as the side effects of the uncertainty there.

Mohammad Fallah, secretary of Iran's Anti-Drug Committee says that whatever happens to the war in Afghanistan, "the drug trade will find a way to live on."

But he adds that the influx of Afghan refugees into Iran is likely to fuel increased trafficking of drugs, and that the transit of illegal substances through this country will continue as long as Afghanistan remains impoverished.

Iran is already struggling in its battle against drug trafficking, as well as drug abuse.

Numerous indicators reveal that despite all the arrests, imprisonment and executions of smugglers and distributors, the number of addicts and users is rising along with production and distribution of narcotic drugs.

The Anti-Drug Committee's data show that the annual opium consumption in Iran is 730 tons, but unofficial figures put it much higher.

Iran's drug scourge is directly related to its common borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan -- two leading producers and exporters of narcotic drugs.

Some 2,000 kms of Iran's borders are penetrated by armed drug smugglers from these two countries -- but especially from Afghanistan.

Experts say that Afghanistan and Burma produce about 95 percent of the world's opium supply.

Afghanistan's opium production stood at about 400 to 500 tons per year in 1989, and rose to more than 4,000 tons in 1999. Of this amount, several hundred tons are confiscated by Iranian security forces every year while the rest is either locally consumed or shipped to other countries.

Last year, with UN cooperation, Iran managed to help Afghan farmers replace poppy cultivation with other crops. But Fallah believes that the present war "is leading Afghanistan into a more dangerous and absolutely dark future," which in turn would have dire consequences for Iran.

Tehran City Council member Mahmood Alizadeh Tabatabaie, who used to be the representative of the president in the Anti-Drug Committee, once even proposed that Iran just buy the opium from the Taliban and then furnish the substance to other countries.

"At least we take the smugglers out of the picture and completely ruin their business," he had argued.

"Five thousand tons of opium is worth around 2,000 billion rials ($250 million)," Tabatabaie had said. "Even if we buy all of this opium and then burn the whole stock, the outcome is more suitable and desirable than the predicament we are now confronting."

Iran says it spends $875 million annually on the war against drugs.

The chief of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, has also spoken about a $900 million cost for strengthening the eastern borders and another $200 million annually for fighting drug trafficking. Apparently, this budget is allocated without foreign aid or assistance.

Most male addicts start taking drugs as early as 15, while females tend to be introduced to narcotics at a later age. Studies indicate that opium and heroin are the top substances of abuse in the country.

Tabatabaei also insists, "There is no question that the number of addicts is considerably more than the official figures."

"Even as we speak," he says, "there are more than 100,000 drug pushers, smugglers and distributors who are incarcerated and at least several hundred thousand others who are free and not behind bars and conducting their business of selling narcotics."

"In the best of scenarios," he says, "we may be able to arrest only 10 percent of them and the remaining 90 percent continue unabated. If we pick a very conservative figure for the number of users a dealer supplies, at least five or six would be a good bet."

"By simple multiplication we reach way above two million and total annual domestic consumption of beyond 1,000 tons," he concludes.

Iran sentences thousands of people to death each year on drug-related charges. Some 1,083 drug dealers were slain in clashes with security forces between March 2000 and March 2001.

But big drug dealers are arrested only once in a while. Some note that most of the people who receive capital punishment possessed less than 100 grams of heroin. Only 1.5 percent of these sentences are carried out.

According to Iranian law, anyone carrying more than 30 grams of heroin or five kilograms of opium faces the death penalty.

Capital punishment for drug crimes was introduced more than a decade ago in the hope that it would reduce narcotic use. But things have turned out very differently.

Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Gholamhussein Bolandian himself admits, "Enforcing the current act, 15,869 people were sentenced to death in 1999 on drug-related charges. The verdicts of 1,735 people were finalized but only 233 went to the gallows."

"That is, less than 1.5 percent of those convicted were actually penalized," he says.

But Fallah argues, "Execution and prison are only effective in the short-term and on a small-scale. If done massively and in a large-scale, it will lose its efficacy. We have more executions and drug busts than any other country in the world."

Others, blame loopholes in the law and commutation of sentences on special occasions such as the New Year celebrations and religious feasts, or through the intervention of influential people.

There is also the government's reluctance to deprive families of their "breadwinners" by carrying out death sentences on convicts. Based on a study by the Anti-Drug Committee, the families of 780 out of a total of 1,000 men who have been executed receive financial support from the state.

Officials point to poverty and unemployment as major factors in the rise of drug trafficking and abuse.

Says drug expert Abbas Babaei of the Interior Ministry: "These poor souls are taken advantage of by organized crime mafia type units who are making billions out of the narcotics trade. How miserable should one's circumstances be to swallow drugs to make money?"

Meanwhile, President Mohammad Khatami faces many problems in dealing with the drug menace.

As Western countries press Iran to stem the tide of illegal drugs passing through this country en route to Europe, international traffickers have been boldly proposed that Tehran accept "transit fees" instead and provide them a safe corridor.

Drug trafficking is too lucrative a trade to give up easily. Opium, for example, increases in price each time it crosses a border. The price of one kilo of opium is about $30 in Afghanistan and climbs to $200 at the Pakistani border.

In Iran, it costs some $1,000. By the time it reaches London, a kilo can fetch as much as $8,000.