27 people held over drug smuggling in a week

KABUL (Pajhwok): Twenty-seven people, including an Iranian national, have been detained in the past one week for attempting to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of narcotics in different parts of the country.

Ahmad Khalid Moahid, spokesman for the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF), told Pajhwok Afghan News the men were detained in Kabul, Logar, Helmand, Faryab, Parwan, Nangarnar, Herat, Baghlan and Farah provinces during the past week.

He said four men who attempted to traffic 1,836 kilograms of heroin from the Kabul International Airport to India were among the detainees.

Overall, 61 kilograms of heroin, 13 kilograms of morphine, more than 5,472kg of opium, 413kg of hashish, 1,360kg of chemicals and 131kg of alcohol were recovered from the detainees.

Similarly, $700, 62,000 afghanis, 9,000 Indian rupees, 4,500 Pakistani rupees, 35 mobile phone sets, two weapons and 10 vehicles were also seized from the drug smugglers, he added.

Moahid said the detainees under investigation with the CJTF. The appellate court of the CJTF had sentenced five individuals from one to 20 years in jail during the last seven days, he concluded.

mds/ma