KABUL (SW) – Up to 9700 alleged drug paddlers have been arrested in the past one year, said an official here on Sunday.
Officials at the anti-narcotics division of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the de-facto government of the Islamic Emirate told Salam Watandar that in the past year, as a result of 23,000 operations in the fight against narcotics, they have arrested 9,700 people on charges of drug trafficking.
Hasibullah Ahmadi, the head of counter-narcotics at the Ministry of Interior Affairs, said that 13,000 hectares of land under the cultivation of narcotics were also cleared last year.
He adds: “As a result of 23,000 operations to fight against narcotics throughout Afghanistan, we have arrested 9,700 people on charges of drug trafficking in the country and cleared 13,000 hectares of land under the cultivation of narcotics. Likewise, we have destroyed more than 4,300 tons of narcotics.”
Meanwhile, Aziz Stanekzai, an analyst on political affairs, referring to the reduction of poppy plantations in Afghanistan, asks the de-facto government to do more to counter drug traffickers.
“It is possible that traffickers still have caches of drugs in Afghanistan that they sell from time to time,” he said.
It should be mentioned that, the neighboring countries had expressed concern about the increase in drug smuggling, especially industrial narcotics from Afghanistan, however recently, Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, said that industrial narcotics were actually transferred to Afghanistan from neighboring countries and the region.
