KABUL): The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Wednesday strongly rejected as “entirely baseless” that Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) officers had taken part in an operation that led to the seizure of 21 tonnes of narcotics in eastern Nangarhar province.
The report issued by Itar-Tas news agency on Tuesday quoted FSKN head Viktor Ivanov as saying FSKN officers had taken part in the “unique operation.” Several drug production labs were destroyed and almost 21 tons of heroin seized during the operation, he said. “Twenty-one tons is, in essence, the annual volume of drugs brought into Russia,” Ivanov said.
The MoI said in a statement the story was entirely baseless, insisting the intelligence-driven operation in Shirzad district on Monday had been independently conducted by Afghan forces without the involvement of any foreigners.
“No Russian anti-drug agency police are present in Afghanistan nor they are working jointly with Afghan Counter Narcotics Police,” the ministry said.
It said Afghan national security forces were fully capable of conducting counter-narcotics operations on their own as necessary and they had numerous achievements in the past years. The ministry confirmed some 21 tonnes of drugs had been seized in the operation.
pr/ma
Visits: 3
GET IN TOUCH
NEWSLETTER
SUGGEST A STORY
PAJHWOK MOBILE APP