Iran Rounds Up 20,000 on Narcotics Charges
Iran said Wednesday that it rounded up nearly 20,000 people on charges of drug addiction and trafficking in a 10-day nationwide sweep.
A dispatch on Tehran Radio, monitored in Athens, said 3 1/2 tons of drugs, along with 58 guns and 48 vehicles, were seized in the operation.
Those arrested included 18,675 people charged with being drug addicts and 901 accused of drug trafficking, the dispatch said.
Under a strict law passed in January, drug addiction is a criminal offense in Iran, while drug trafficking is punishable by death. Iranian authorities have hanged at least 1,244 convicted drug traffickers since the beginning of this year.
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