Iran arrests 85 Africans for drug trafficking

... Ghanaian involved
Iran has arrested 85 African nationals in a crackdown on an international drug trafficking network, Iran's anti-narcotics police chief was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"In the operation, 90 members of the group including 85 Africans from Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana as well as two Pakistanis were arrested," Commander Hamid Reza Hosseinabadi said, quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"The ringleader is a Tanzanian who used the African unemployed, bringing them to Iran to carry drugs, and paid them 5,000 to 6,000 dollars," the police chief said.

He said the detainees "swallowed cocaine before travelling to Iran from Dubai and on their way back swallowed heroin, crack and crystal and transferred them out of the country."

"After swallowing narcotics they would shortly appear at all airports in the country that have flights to Dubai," he said, adding the drugs were headed for Dubai in neighbouring United Arab Emirates, for China, Hong Kong, Thailand and some European countries.

Hosseinabadi said the crackdown was launched on August 15 throughout the country and police had seized more than 54 kilos (118 pounds) of heroin and crack from the gang in airports in Tehran and several other cities.

"The network has been completely dismantled inside Iran and the information will be given to the Interpol, Dubai and Pakistan, which was their main base."

Iran lies on a major narcotics route from neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan. Thousands of Iranian forces have been killed in clashes with smugglers in eastern border provinces in the past years.

Serious drug trafficking is punishable by hanging in Iran.