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Azerbaijan remains a transit country for illicit narcotics by virtue of its situation along major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe and Russia, the US Department of State International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2015 reads.

According to the report, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) estimates that between 5.8 and seven metric tons (MT) of narcotics transit Azerbaijan annually, much of it through Azerbaijan’s southern border with Iran. Azerbaijan may be an increasingly favored transit country for drugs over neighboring countries such as Turkey, which has strengthened its border controls in recent years.

Azerbaijan’s MIA reported that it seized approximately 700 kg of illegal drugs over the first ten months of 2014. Authorities opened 1,743 cases for drug-related crimes during the same period, of which 449 involved narcotics sales. According to ministry statistics, authorities convicted 1,252 people of drug-related crimes in the first half of 2014. Of the individuals, 91.9 percent were unemployed, 28.2 percent were previously convicted, and 2.6 percent were women, the report reads.

According to a UN report, "Northern Balkan Route" of drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe lies precisely through Azerbaijan. Drugs freely cross Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran route. The second, “Old Balkan Route" lies straight through Iran to Turkey. People engaged in the smuggling are mainly assisted by the Azerbaijani and Kurdish population of northern Iran. The third way is through Azerbaijan and the Caucasus which lies through the Turkmen seaport after Turkmenbashi, in Baku. Here the drugs are easily smuggled into Russia.

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