Kabul, Jan 29 Afghan counter-narcotics police have uncovered about 19 kg of illicit drugs, including 13 kg of Ice (methamphetamine), and arrested 12 suspected drug smugglers in five provinces of Afghanistan, an official statement said on Wednesday.
The drugs were seized during separate routine operations conducted by the police on the outskirts of the provinces of Herat, Laghman, Panjshir, Faryab and the national capital Kabul, the Ministry of Interior said in the statement.
The ministry said in another release that Afghan authorities destroyed more than 16 tonnes of narcotic drugs and acid by setting them ablaze in the western province of Nimroz.
Authorities of the counter-narcotics department also destroyed 10.5 tonnes of illegal drugs in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan province, the provincial police office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The contraband including opium poppy, hashish, objects used in manufacturing heroin and other toxic items was burned publicly on Tuesday, the statement said.
Police in Bamiyan banned the cultivation of poppy, drug processing, and drug trafficking in the province, the statement added.
The Afghan caretaker government has stepped up its crackdown on illicit drugs and those involved in the business, vowing to fight the menace until the country is free from poppy cultivation.
The Afghan police also on Wednesday announced the arrest of 23 people on charges of involvement in criminal activities, including murder and theft over the past 24 hours throughout the country.
The suspects were arrested following operations conducted by counter-narcotics police in the provinces of Nimroz, Parwan, Balkh, Helmand, Laghman and Badghis, read an Interior Ministry statement.
Most of the detainees were involved in murder and theft cases, a source said, adding that the suspects were taken to concerned departments for investigation and possible legal process.
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