© AP Photo/ Massoud Hossaini

Russia, Iran Agree on Joint Anti-Drug Trafficing Operations, Seek End of Afghan Drug Production

MOSCOW, December 17 (Sputnik) — Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FDSC) and the Chinese Public Security Ministry have agreed to jointly combat drug production in Afghanistan within the framework of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS, FDSC director Viktor Ivanov said Wednesday. »We have agreed to consolidate our position on this issue [of combating the drug production in Afghanistan] before the special session of the UN General Assembly, which will focus on drugs, » Ivanov said at a press conference held at the Rossiya Segodnya press center in Moscow.

The official emphasized the threat posed by « huge heroin production located in the geographical center of the SCO member nations. »

Afghanistan is the world’s leader in drug production. It supplies more than 90 percent of the world’s opiates on the international black market, the United Nations said. Opium production in the country in 2013 reached 5,500 tons, an increase of 49 percent from the previous year, according to UN estimates.