Smuggler Pigeons Caught by Iranian Police

On Tuesday, September 7, the Iranian government news agency reported that in the operation "Clean-up of Contaminated Areas by the Police Forces of Taq Bostan" in Kermanshah, 100 trained pigeons intended for transporting drugs were caught. According to IRNA, a drug dealer was tying drug packages to the feet of these trained pigeons to transport them to designated locations in Kermanshah. IRNA wrote: "All the pigeons have been seized by the police forces." The report stated that during the clean-up operation on Monday, September 6, eight residential homes were seized on charges of drug possession, while it was noted that no drugs were discovered in at least four of the homes. This operation was carried out under the directive of the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Kermanshah and in accordance with "Article 13 of the Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law." Article 13 specifies that if someone uses their industrial, commercial, service unit, or residence to store, produce, or distribute narcotics or psychotropic substances, that location will be confiscated in favor of the government. In recent years, with stricter enforcement and the use of modern tools for identifying drug shipments, drug trafficking has become more complex and professional. Methods have ranged from swallowing drugs to hiding them in watches, prosthetic legs, books, and chocolates, to the most intricate methods, including weaving drugs into the fibers of Iranian silk carpets, which have been discovered by Iranian police or other countries targeted by drug trafficking. The newspaper Shahrvand previously reported on drugs being hidden inside watermelons and cucumbers. These methods were previously used before the anti-narcotics law was amended. On Sunday, August 13, Iranian parliament representatives approved changes to the anti-narcotics law that limit the death penalty for drug-related crimes, including for those currently sentenced to death. According to Hassan Norouzi, spokesperson for the Judiciary Commission of the parliament, there are currently "over five thousand drug prisoners" awaiting execution, who will be spared from execution and their sentences will change to 20 to 30 years in prison. Under the current law, the manufacture, distribution, sale, or importation of more than 5 kilograms of hashish, opium, or more than 30 grams of heroin, morphine, cocaine, and other chemical derivatives of morphine and cocaine carries the death penalty. However, in the proposed new law, the death penalty is set for the production and distribution of 50 kilograms of traditional drugs and 2 kilograms of industrial drugs.