Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Tuesday that the Islamic republic is the forerunner in the global campaign against drugs and illicit drug trafficking.

The drugs produced in the neighboring country of Adghanistan is a threat for Iran, said Mohammad-Najjar addressing a ceremony to mark the World Drug Campaign Day.

Currently, 500 laboratories are active in producing narcotics in Afghanistan and this is a sources of threat to the Islamic republic, said the Iranian interior minister.

However, Iran has been ranked the first in the world in fighting drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, he said.

In the past years, some 3,700 Iranian anti-drug forces have been killed and 12,000 others have been injured in fighting the drug smugglers, he said, adding that this is the proof that Iran is actively engaged in the drug campaign.

In the last Iranian year, ended on March 19, Iran seized nearly 500 tons of narcotics in 1,300 operations against the armed drug smugglers, said the Iranian official.

To protect the young people from the risks of the drugs abuse, the Islamic republic has launched protective training courses and programs in which some 3.3 million university and high school students have participated, Mohammad-Najjar maintained.

Some 26,000 people, which accounts for 50 percent of the country's addicts, have undergone the compulsory treatment measures, and in 15 provinces of the country rehabilitation centers have been established for the medical care of the addicts, according to Mohammad-Najjar.

In May, Mohammad-Najjar said that Iran had intensified combat against drug lords and mafias.

Intensifying campaign against the main agents and heads of drug- trafficking networks and transit of narcotics, increasing border control to decrease drug trafficking into the country were part of the measures taken by the Islamic republic, he said.

Iran would continue playing its effective role in regional and international decision-makings against narcotics, he added.

In October 2011, Mohammad-Najjar said the country planned to beef up border control to fight drug smuggling in the wake of increasing production of illicit drugs in neighboring Afghanistan.

Iran is located at the crossroad of the international drug smuggling route from Afghanistan, the world's top opium producer, to Europe.