Iran calls for joint border ops. with Pakistan against drug trafficking
Visiting Chief of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Police Brigadier-General Majid Karimi has called for Iran-Pakistan anti-drug trafficking border patrolling.
The Iranian senior police officer arrived in Islamabad yesterday at the official invitation of the Pakistani government and the Director General of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).
During his two-day stay in Pakistan, he is scheduled to meet separately with Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Director General of Pakistan's Anti Narcotics Force Major General Arif Malik.
Referring to his visit to the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, he said: "We will also meet with the Director General of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and discuss various issues in the field of anti-narcotics and maritime security."
Chief of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Police said: We will discuss joint border patrolling and joint operations with Pakistani anti-narcotics forces during the meetings with the Pakistani officials.
Karimi said: We have very good cooperation in the form of trilateral cooperation in UN projects between the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and apart from that, we have bilateral cooperation with the Anti-Narcotics Force of Pakistan.
Explaining the purpose of his visit to Pakistan, he added: Strengthening bilateral cooperation, exchange of information, cross-border cooperation and prevention of drug trafficking and transit, investigation of traffickers' methods and investigation of drug trafficking routes, are the things which would be discussed during the meetings.
Chief of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Police also said: The Islamic Republic of Iran will emphasize on coordination and cooperation at the border points with the Pakistan Anti-Narcotics Force.
He added: In 2020, Iran recovered and confiscated over 980,000 kilograms of various drugs, and for this reason, we believe that our colleagues in Pakistan should take more measures to prevent the entry of drugs from the borders of this country to Iran.
Brigadier-General Majid Karimi added there is good cooperation between Iran and Pakistan to combat drug traffickers but we expect the neighboring country to take more serious measures to the international problem and cooperate more with the Islamic Republic of Iran.