Azerbaijan thwarts attempt to smuggle drugs from Iran

Azerbaijan has foiled an attempt to smuggle 11.4 kg of drugs into the country from neighbouring Iran.

Border guards of the State Border Service's Goytapa and Lankarantate border detachments prevented the smuggling of 11.4 kg of drugs and 3,956 psychotropic substance tablets from Iran to Azerbaijan, Caliber.Az reports, quoting the State Border Service.

At 23:10 on June 1, a border patrol serving in the area of the border outpost near Imishli District's Aranli village discovered signs of violation of the Iran-Azerbaijani state border.

As a result of the border search and operational measures, one person hiding in the bushes on the border territory was detained as a suspect. During the inspection of the parcel, a narcotic drug with a total weight of 3.3 kg (2.8 kg of heroin, 520 g of methamphetamine, and 28 g) was found and seized.

At about 23:00 on May 31, information was received about a state border violation on the official territory of the Lankaran border detachment's border outpost near Astara District's Zungyulash village.

As a result of the border search and military-operational measures, Gunduz Imamaliyev, Astara District's Archivan village resident, was detained while hiding in a forest area among thickets of bushes.

During the investigation, it was established that Imamaliyev had been convicted several times before, and violated the state border to smuggle drugs from Iran into Azerbaijan.

During the search with service dogs on the territory where Imamaliyev was detained, a bag hidden among the bushes by him was discovered, containing various drugs totalling 7.7 kg (2.1 kg of heroin, 2.2 kg of marijuana, 2 kg of opium, 1.2 kg of methamphetamine), 976 psychotropic tablets, and a hunting knife.

At 00:10 on June 8, A border patrol serving at the site observed an unknown person moving in the direction of Iran to Azerbaijan, approaching the engineering fence, and immediately returning to the border guard station of the Lankaran border detachment near Astara District's Alasha village.

As a result of the border search and operational measures carried out over the state border's violation, border guards were drawn to the suspicious actions of a person who, at 00:50 on the 13th km of the Alat-Astara highway, got into a car on the border territory and took an unknown object from under a road sign post.

The suspect was apprehended while attempting to flee the scene. During the search, 403 grammes of heroin and 2,980 tablets of the psychotropic drug "Methadone-40" were discovered in the parcel of Lankaran resident Kanan Aghayev.