1,600 KILOS OF MORPHINE SEIZED IN NORTHEAST IRAN

TEHERAN - Iranian police have seized 1,623 kilogrammes of morphine in the northeastern province of Khorasan, one of the largest single hauls in the area near the Afghan border for several years.

According to the Qods newspaper, provincial police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said the narcotics were destined for European markets -- a frequent assertion by Iranian officials who seek to play down the Islamic republic's own serious drug habit.

The morphine reportedly originated in Iran's unruly southeast, although it is likely the product was derived from opium smuggled into the country from neighbouring Afghanistan.

In the last Iranian year ending March 2004, Iranian police seized over 200 tonnes of drugs, most of it smuggled from Afghanistan.  Situated on a major drug trafficking route, Iran itself counts an estimated two million drug users.