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The Armenian Prosecutor General's Office on Friday presented statistics on the fight against drug trafficking jointly with Iran, calling the accusations of the Azerbaijani president “groundless”.

Speaking at an online meeting of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Heads of State on October 15, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that "Armenia and Iran have for years used the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh to smuggle drugs into Europe.” In response, Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia and Iran are jointly fighting international drug trafficking. Later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry also rejected Aliyev's claims.

The statement of the Prosecutor General's Office says that in 2020, 13 criminal cases were launched into cases of drug smuggling on the border of Armenia and Iran, and14 people were charged.

In the first nine months of 2021, 12 cases were investigated and charges were brought against 24 people, including citizens of both Armenia and Iran. While a total of 157 kilograms of narcotic substances were seized at the border between 2017 and 2020, while the figure was 451 kilograms in 2021 alone.

In recent years, Armenian and Iranian law enforcement agencies have been actively fighting against drug trafficking through the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the Prosecutor General 's Office, seven cases have been uncovered since 2016. The total amount of drugs transported from Iran to Nagorno-Karabakh was 28 kilograms. In 7 criminal cases, 16 people were charged, 10 of whom were handed down prison sentences.

“All these data confirm that the accusations made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have nothing to do with reality, are made-up, lack factual data and are aimed at discrediting Armenia and Iran, doomed to failure from the very beginning. They are also aimed at concealing the fact that Azerbaijan itself is a transit country for drug trafficking,” the statement said.