TARINKOT (SW) – Security officials in Uruzgan say the local poppy market is now closed after Salam Watandar published an exclusive report on it.
Aghawali Qureshi, a spokesman for the Uruzgan police chief, told Salam Watandar that the market was closed and no one was allowed to buy or sell opium or other narcotics in the market.
“Today, we have closed the ‘Opium Square’ in Tirinkot,” he said. “After that, if anyone trades in drugs, it will be a violation of the Amir al-Mumin’s order and they will be dealt with legally.”
At the same time, drug dealers who used to buy and sell narcotics in ‘Opium Square, Tarinkot’, told Salam Watandar that with the closure of the market, they have now left the area and those involved in drug trafficking have now moved to the Nachin and Machinaw areas outside Tarinkot.
The drug traffickers added that they had been warned several times by the local authorities of the Islamic Emirate to stop buying and selling narcotics in the area, but they did not heed the warning, and now the forces of the Islamic Emirate have closed their shops.
Residents of Tarinkot, meanwhile, say the drug traffickers who were driven out of the ‘Opium Square’ have now set up drug markets in two other areas of the city.
“They (authorities) warned us several times, but we were still dealing drugs in the area,” a drug dealer told Salam Watandar. “The drug traffickers have now relocated to Nachin and Machinaw areas of the city. It’s not far off. If opium is banned, it should be banned everywhere.”
Meanwhile, Agha Wali Qureshi, spokesman for the Uruzgan police chief, told Salam Watandar that in addition to closing the drug market in ‘Opium Square’, they were trying to stop drug trafficking in remote areas of the province as well.
Qureshi added that no one had complained about the sale and purchase of narcotics in the Nachin and Machinaw areas of Tarinkot city as of yet.
ENDS
