Over 700 Drug Dealers Arrested in Tehran in 24 Hours

The head of Tehran's police announced the identification and arrest of over 700 "drug dealers" and "thugs" in the city over the past 24 hours. According to the IRNA news agency on Tuesday, August 2, quoting Hossein Sajjadi-Nia, these individuals were arrested during two phases of a police crackdown in various areas of Tehran. The Fars news agency also reported that this two-phase operation was carried out by law enforcement officers and the anti-drug police of Tehran's police command. Sajjadi-Nia added that the first phase of the operation focused on "dealing with harassers of women," resulting in the identification and arrest of 86 "thugs." In the second phase, targeting drug-related issues and sellers, 612 drug distributors were identified and arrested from 140 contaminated points across Tehran. The head of Tehran's police also reported the seizure of "130 kilograms of industrial and traditional drugs" from those arrested. He further stated that over seven tons of various types of traditional and industrial drugs had been seized in Tehran over the past four months. During this period, "19 drug trafficking gangs" were also identified and dismantled. Sajjadi-Nia reported that there are over 12,000 visible drug addicts in Tehran, and the demands of Tehran citizens for the cleansing of these individuals have not yet been met. He criticized the low capacity of addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers in Tehran, stating: "The capacity of addiction treatment centers in Tehran is about three thousand, and those arrested return to addiction and homelessness after three months." Despite the repeated arrests of drug dealers and the dismantling of drug trafficking gangs in Iran, drug consumption rates in the country have not decreased. In early July, the spokesperson for the Drug Control Headquarters reported that over 3,000 people died from drug abuse in 1995, and the number of regular drug users in Iran was reported to be two million and 808 thousand. Parviz Afshar, announcing this information on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse, stated that there was a "6.2 percent increase in drug-related deaths in 1995 compared to 1994." Afshar also noted an 8.6 percent increase in deaths caused by the use of psychoactive substances in Iran, indicating that "this increase has raised alarm bells regarding the use of these substances."