16 Drug Traffickers Executed in Iran
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Sixteen drug smugglers were hanged in Iran on Wednesday after a major anti-narcotics crackdown, Tehran Radio reported.
Ten key members of the gang were hanged in Tehran, two smugglers were executed in neighboring Varamin and four in western Bakhtaran province, according to the broadcast, monitored in Nicosia.
These deaths raised to 89 the number of drug smugglers executed since the crackdown started Jan. 16. More than 1,000 people have been arrested in the same period in what Iranian newspapers describe as “the biggest crackdown on drug smuggling in Iranian history.”
A new narcotics law, which went into effect Saturday, carries the death penalty for possession of just over an ounce of heroin and for 11 pounds of opium or hashish.
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