Opium, hashish seized near Iranian border

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Police have seized 218 kilograms of narcotics in southwestern Nimroz province, an official said on Monday.

Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh told Pajhwok Afghan News the drugs were recovered from a well during an operation in Kang district close to the Iranian border.

The traffickers escaped but police were trying to arrest them, he said, adding the men wanted to smuggle the drugs — 139 kg of opium and 79 kg of hashish — to Iran.

Kang district’s administrative head Juma Ilmi said most of drug trafficking involved local people, who were paid handsomely.

Officials said the narcotics had been trafficked from southern provinces, particularly Helmand. Nimroz deserts are used as a transit route to Iran.

A resident of Nimroz, Mohammad Essa, said drugs posed a greater threat than war to Afghanistan because. “They kill our youth, our future.”

He added: “I want judicial courts to punish the smugglers and struggle for eliminating poppy cultivation in the country.”

mds/mud