Afghan police have seized more than half a tonne of heroin and opium in the eastern province of Nangarhar, the interior ministry said Wednesday. In the biggest seizure in months, anti-drug police found 400 kilograms of heroin on Tuesday and detained an armed man linked to the drugs, the ministry said in a statement. It did not give further details.
Nearly 250 kilograms of opium - the raw ingredient to make heroin - was seized in a separate raid in the same province, the statement said. More than 20 kilos of chemicals used in making heroin were also seized, it added.
Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the worldÂ’s opium. Despite internationally backed efforts to cut the drugs trade, AfghanistanÂ’s opium production grew by 34 percent in 2007, according to a UN survey. The government says the illicit drug trade fuels the insurgency mainly waged by Taliban militants whose regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders such as Osama bin Laden. |