Afghan police seize over 180 kg of illegal drugs, arrest four traffickers
Kabul, Nov 8 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Counter-narcotics police seized more than 180 kg of opium and hashish and arrested four suspected drug traffickers in the northern Afghan province of Takhar, provincial police spokesman Naqibullah Masroor said on Sunday.
The seized contraband included 143 kg of opium and 40 kg of hashish, which had been concealed in compartments of a car, the spokesman said.
The four suspects were transporting the drugs to an unknown destination on Saturday when police intercepted their vehicle in the provincial capital, Taluqan, and arrested all of them, he added, Xinhua News Agency reported.
In a similar operation, police seized 32 kg of methamphetamine and arrested two individuals in the western Afghan province of Herat on Friday.
On November 1, local police official said Afghan security forces have dismantled eight clandestine heroin processing laboratories and arrested 17 suspected drug traffickers in western Ghor province.
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.
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.
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