Hey, as much bad as Iran is doing, at least there is one good thing they are proficient at:

Iranian police seized 18 kilograms of opium after cutting open the stomachs of six camels, which are being increasingly used to carry narcotics from Afghanistan, media reported Tuesday.

Iran is one of the world's key narcotics thoroughfares, carrying opiates from Afghanistan to Europe. It boasts 25 percent of opium seizures worldwide.

The official IRNA news agency said police in the central city of Nain slaughtered the camels which they found in the back of a truck pulled over at a checkpoint.

The bellies of four animals yielded drugs and the truck driver was arrested.

This is a pretty sick use of camels, forcing the police to kill the animals in order to make sure they are not carrying drugs. The article did not mention how many camels with empty stomachs that are killed although I'm sure it happens. Not to mention the job the drug recovery guy has to do after a successful smuggling operation, assuming they want to keep the camels alive for the next run.

The article ended with this paragraph:

Networks of forts and ramparts across Iran's eastern borders have forced drug dealers back to more traditional methods, carrying narcotics through narrow mountain passes in rucksacks and camels' saddle-bags.

I've never heard the stomach referred to as a saddle-bag; I always thought the term described those convenient flesh/fat handles near the hips that women are equipped with. You learn something new every day. (Blogging will be slow for the next 20 minutes - I've got to go fill my saddle bag.)