Azerbaijan seizes about 98 kg of drugs on Iran border

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Officers of the State Customs Committee have foiled an attempt to smuggle about 98 kg of heroin into Azerbaijan via the Iranian border, the committee reported on March 14.

An X-ray machine was used to inspect a truck driven by an Iranian citizen and carrying cargo to Bulgaria through the territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic at the Julfa border checkpoint.

Suspicious images were discovered in the vehicle's tank as a result of the X-ray inspection. A total of 97.8 kg of heroin were found in 113 parcels in a three-part secret storage facility made in an artificially made fuel tank on the driver's side of the vehicle.

A criminal case has been launched by the investigation department of the State Customs Committee of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic under Azerbaijani Criminal Code Article 206 (smuggling).

In an interview with the local media in late 2021, a senior official of the State Customs Committee said that Afghanistan is a major producer of drugs.

As Iran borders both Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, drugs are traditionally smuggled in from Afghanistan into Iran and then into Azerbaijan. Given our country's geographical location, drug traffickers attempt to smuggle drugs into European countries along the Balkan route via Azerbaijan.