Afghan forces dismantle eight heroin labs, arrest 17 suspects in Ghor

Kabul: Afghan security forces have dismantled eight clandestine heroin processing laboratories and arrested 17 suspected drug traffickers in western Ghor province, a local police official announced on Sunday.

Acting on intelligence and a tip-off, counter-narcotics units conducted a targeted raid on the outskirts of Chaharsada district, destroying the facilities and seizing substantial quantities of precursor chemicals and illicit narcotics used in heroin production, provincial police spokesman Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Badri said.

The suspects have been taken into custody and transferred to judicial authorities, with case files submitted for further legal proceedings, Badri added, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The operation is part of an intensified nationwide campaign against the narcotics trade, targeting traffickers, cultivators and production networks in a concerted effort to dismantle Afghanistan's illicit drug economy.

On October 18, police burned nearly one tonne of illegal drugs in the western Afghan province of Farah, provincial police spokesman Kalimullah Nangyal said.

The narcotics, including 955 kg of opium-type drugs, hashish and 36 kg of methamphetamine, were seized during a series of operations recently and publicly burned on Sunday, the official said.

Police also arrested a suspected drug smuggler, who would be handed over to the judiciary after the completion of a preliminary investigation, the official added.

On October 16, the provincial Directorate of Information and Culture said that counter-narcotics police seized 136 kg of opium-type drugs and detained three suspected smugglers in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

The contraband was recovered from two cars in Sangin district on October 15, the statement said, adding that the three suspects had been detained for investigation.

The suspected drug smugglers would be handed over to the judiciary after the completion of a preliminary investigation, the statement added.

On October 13, a provincial police spokesman said that Afghan police incinerated 161 tons of assorted illicit narcotics uncovered during a year-long counter-narcotics campaign in western Herat province.

The illicit substances were recovered in a series of counter-narcotics operations carried out in Herat city, the provincial capital, and various districts of the province, said Sayed Massoud Hussaini, the provincial police spokesman.

Without revealing the number of individuals arrested for storing or trafficking the seized narcotics, Hussaini emphasised that police would not allow anyone to smuggle, cultivate, or process illicit drugs anywhere in Afghanistan.

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