Delaram district chief, sons jailed

KABUL)): A district chief of southwestern Nimroz province and his two sons have been jailed for 20 years for trafficking drugs, authorities said on Saturday.

The chief of Delaram district was convicted of trafficking narcotics using official vehicles and providing facilities for drug traffickers through the country’s southwest, near the border with Iran, Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) said in a statement.

He and three others, including his two sons, were caught in an operation by Afghan Counter Narcotics Police, who seized 35 kgs of opium and 2 kgs of morphine during a house search, the US and British-funded CJTF said.

One of the district chief convicted sons was the commander of Nimroz reserved division, and the other was a soldier in aforesaid division, it said. Along with their father, they were involved in trafficking drugs by their official vehicles from Dilaram district to Zaranj city of Nimroz province.

Their case was sent by security forces for further investigation, prosecution and trial at the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF).

The convicts had defense attorneys for their legal defence.

Afghanistanproduces around 90 percent of the world‘s opium in an illicit trade estimated to be worth billions to the economy and is blamed for widespread corruption among officials.

The CJTF has made over 1,000 convictions for drugs offences since it was set up in 2005, but has been criticised for not tackling the major drug kingpins.

pr/ma

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