Police set on fire over 0.5 tonne of illegal drugs in south Afghanistan

Kabul, July 21 Police set on fire more than half a tonne of illegal drugs in the southern Afghanistan Kandahar province on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Assadullah Jamshid said Monday.

The contraband, which included 130 kg of opium poppy, 480 kg of methamphetamine and 660 pieces of stimulant tablets, had been collected over the past two months and was burned publicly, the official added.

Police won't allow anyone to produce, process or traffic illegal drugs, the official further said.

Yesterday, Afghan security forces dismantled two drug processing labs and discovered more than 580 kg of illicit drugs in western Afghanistan's Farah province, the office of the Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter-Narcotics said in a statement.

According to the statement, counter-narcotic police launched separate operations on the outskirts of the Bakwa district, where they destroyed two drug labs and confiscated 589 kg of illicit substances. Nine suspected drug smugglers were detained, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Afghan interim government has stepped up its crackdown on illicit drugs and those involved in the business.

In a similar case, on July 8, the Afghanistan Police thwarted attempts to smuggle 43 kg of illegal opium type drugs and arrested two individuals on charges of involvement in the drug business in eastern Wardak province.

The alleged drug traffickers were attempting to take the contraband, which was smuggled from the northern Balkh, onward to the western Farah province. They were intercepted by police in Wardak's provincial capital, Maidan Shar and drugs confiscated.

Both the arrested men, after necessary investigation, would be handed over to the judiciary for further interrogation, the official further said.

Further, police also launched operations to destroy hashish farms in northern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province.

During search operations, police found 1500 kg of opium poppy from inside a tanker of liquid gas on July 5 and arrested a drug smuggler who was attempting to take the contraband out of Takhar province, the official said.

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