Five convicted armed drug traffickers were hanged in...

Five convicted armed drug traffickers were hanged in a prison in Iran.
The five traffickers, described as members of an international drug ring, were executed inside a prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, near the Afghan border, Kayhan daily newspaper said. It said the five were arrested three weeks before with half a tonne of morphine, after a shootout with police.
Seven other smugglers were killed in the clashes. Iran is a main route for drugs from Afghanistan to the West.
Iranian authorities seized about 112 tonnes of drugs and arrested 306,000 people on drug-related charges during the last Iranian year which ended in March.