Security Deal with Qatar

Iranian and Qatari police chiefs signed a cooperation agreement on fighting drug trafficking and reinforcing security along their joint sea borders.

The agreement was inked in Tehran by Iran’s Police Chief Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi Moqaddam and Qatar’s Director General of Public Security Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, IRNA reported.

The Iranian chief said the two countries attached great importance to controlling their joint sea borders and combating organized crimes.

In a meeting with commander of the anti-narcotics squad of Iran’s Law Enforcement Police General Ali Moayyedi, Khulaifi praised Iran’s key role in the global campaign against narcotics and the Iranian police’s efforts in blocking the transit of illicit drugs from Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf littoral states, including Qatar.

“We are well-aware that a major portion of the campaign against drug-trafficking relies on Iran and Iran has been able to control its border crossings very well,” Khulaifi said.

He further pointed to Iran’s police measures against the transit of drugs through the Persian Gulf, and stated, “Drug convoys have changed their route and moved towards free waters after Iran sealed its borders. Thus, the Iranian police have been able to reduce drug-trafficking to the Persian Gulf (littoral) states via sea routes.”

The commander noted that cooperation between the Iranian and Qatari police in the campaign against drugs has zeroed drug-trafficking to Qatar.

The Iranian police measures along the country’s eastern borders have forced drug-traffickers to resort to other routes, including the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf, to smuggle their drug cargos which originate in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to the UNODC, these days, 93 percent of the world’s opium is produced in Afghanistan, 60% of which is destined for the EU and specially the US markets, and the main transit route is Iran, where the country’s dedicated police squad risk their lives to make the most discoveries of drug cargos, disband drug-trafficking gangs and organizations and much more in a bid to rescue not only the Iranian youth but also all those living in Europe and the US.