The expert warned about the risk of a heroin surge due to the war in Iran

Iran plays a key role in curbing the flow of drugs from Afghanistan, and if control in the region is weakened, a sharp increase in supplies to the world market is possible, warned Sergey Pelikh, an expert on international drug trafficking and former head of the investigative unit of the Russian Interior Ministry for combating organized crime. According to him, there are three main routes from the country: the northern one through Russia, the Balkan one through Albania to Europe and the sea routes through Iran's ports to other regions.

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"Iran still has the longest land border with Afghanistan," the source told Izvestia.

He stressed that high-purity crystalline heroin (70-90%) passes through the southern routes, and stocks accumulated at the borders and large seizures (entire warehouses, dozens of hectares) pose a serious problem due to the difficulties in destroying them.

The expert also warned that military action and political instability would only worsen the situation.

"As long as the war is going on, drug traffic, I think, will increase," said Pelich, an expert on international organized crime.

He did not rule out that in case of loss of control, some of the accumulated stocks could enter the consumer market, which would lead to a large-scale increase in the spread and consumption of opiates and synthetics in different regions.

Read more about the drug situation in the Middle East in the Izvestia article:

Opium for the people: conflict in Iran will cause a heroin boom on the planet

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