§ Geraint DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will review the type and level of hardware and training support given to Iranian law enforcers tackling drug smuggling on the Iran/Afghanistan border. [66986]
§ Mr. MacShaneIran is very successful in disrupting the drugs trade: it accounted for 85 per cent. of the world's opium seizures and 47 per cent. of the world's heroin seizures in 1999. Iran is the largest recipient of UK anti-drugs assistance: around £3.5 million since 1998, including £650,000 announced by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary during his visit there last September. Much of it is spent on training and equipment for law enforcement which bears the brunt of the fight with the drugs trade; over 3,000 law enforcement officers have been killed in clashes with armed traffickers in the past 20 years.
5WWe continually review the type of equipment and training we give to those engaged in tackling the drugs trade including Iranian law enforcers operating on the Afghan-Iranian border.