In the poorest neighbourhoods of Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran, daily clashes take place between drug gangs, which include women and young children.The drug trade is rife there, due to the city’s location near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, one of the country’s poorest. It suffers from security problems due to the activity of terrorists in neighbouring countries and armed rebels in the region. Opium and heroin pass through Zahedan and from there head to other destinations around Iran. At this stage in the drug trafficking route, prices are still quite low.

“Kids start dealing drugs at a very early age”

Mohammad lives in Zahedan. He has studied his city’s drug trafficking problem.

“As you can see in the video, there are clashes between petty drug dealers, mostly over customers. This is especially frequent in the neighbourhood of Shirabad, where this video was filmed. It is customary there for people to deal drugs from their homes. Customers come to this neighbourhood from all over the city, and even from nearby towns.”

Initially published on France24 on 01/16/2014
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