Iran, neighbours should share drug trade info--UN

VIENNA, Nov 10 (Reuters) Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan should pool intelligence on drug trafficking to catch up with sophisticated gangs smuggling out thousands of tonnes of Afghan opium a year, the UN drug agency chief said today.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said Iranian police were scoring big successes in intercepting drugs from Afghanistan but could do much more if they were able to exchange intelligence with neighbours.

Afghanistan produced a record 6,100 tonnes of opium this year and about 80 percent will flow through Pakistan and Iran, Costa said in a statement issued in Vienna after completing a three-day visit to Iran on Friday.

''Only about a quarter of this is likely to be intercepted...

''(So) I urge these three countries and their international partners to establish an intelligence-sharing platform modelled on those that UNODOC is already helping to set up in Central Asia and the Gulf,'' he said.

Costa said regional governments needed to ''cooperate as easily across borders as the criminal gangs do. Otherwise they will always be one step ahead''.

During a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he paid tribute to the more than 3,000 members of Iranian security forces killed fighting smugglers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Heavily armed smugglers often clash with Iranian armed forces along the long, porous border with Afghanistan, the world's top producer of opium.

Reuters RL GC2315