GHAZNI CITY(SW): Once a monumental fortress, the Citadel of Ghazni now serves as a hub for drug addicts in the southern Ghazni province.
Every day, the drug addicts frequent it to buy a variety of narcotics products from drug peddlers at this historical site. The drug users in this province say that they can easily get all sorts of narcotics here.
A number of addicts told Salam Watandar that there were at least 20 drug smugglers involved in the sale and the security forces do not bother them at all. They claim a number of security forces’ personnel were actually involved in this trade.
Jawed, a drug user, who frequents this historic site, said that he quit his addiction several times but for different reasons he relapsed into it. “Unemployment, family members’ bad behavior towards me and lack of support from the government forced me back into it”, he said.
He added that the police patrol only loot the addicts and deprive them of valuables like mobile phones and cash. They (police) also force us to do labor work for them at check posts”, he said.
There is no cultivation of poppy in this province yet the abundance of narcotics here questions the ability of the security forces in stopping its inflow.
A smuggler, who wished not be named, noted that while transferring the drug they usually bribe at each and every security checkpoint and they also use women and children for this purpose. He added that opium and poppy have a good market in Ghazni and the smugglers make quite a fortune selling them.
Aminullah Amarkheyl, Ghazni Police Chief, while confirming that some checkpoints might be taking such brides, said there is new plan in place now to prevent drug smuggling into Ghazni. He further said that misusing drug addicts for unpaid labors work was illegal and he would take serious action to stop it.
Nasrullah Naeemi, Head of Addiction Recovery Center in Ghazni, said that the number of addicted people was on the rise in the province. He added that easy access to drugs have also hampered their work.”Even those who were making good recovery relapsed into it again”, he regretted.
He further said that so far 3500 addicted have been treated at this center and 50 more have recently come to seek treatment. He mentioned that his staff often receive threats from the smugglers.
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