Major anti-narcotics operation in Afghanistan leads to dozens of arrests

Police in northern Afghanistan’s Takhar province have confiscated more than one ton of illegal drugs over the past three months, with dozens of people detained in the operations, provincial police spokesperson Nizamuddin Omir said.

According to him, the seized narcotics included 590 kg of opium poppy, 202 kg of hashish, 205 kg of methamphetamine, several kilograms of heroin, and 149 kg of other illicit substances and materials used in drug production. These were uncovered during a series of coordinated operations across the province, Xinhua reports.

Authorities also detained 85 people suspected of involvement in the production and trafficking of narcotics, the spokesperson added.

More than 4,300 acres of poppy farms have been destroyed during the period, he claimed, adding that police have also rounded up 132 drug addicted people over the past three months and sent them to a rehabilitation centre in neighbouring Kunduz province.

The spokesman emphasised that cultivation, processing, and trafficking of narcotics will not be tolerated in the region.

By Jeyhun Aghazada