150 kg opium poppy seized in Kandahar, nine held

Kandahar, Sep 3 (IANS) Counter-narcotics police during a series of operations in Afghanistan's Kandahar province have seized 150 kg opium poppy and taken nine people into custody on the charge of involvement in the drug business, provincial police spokesman Mullah Asadullah Jamshid said on Tuesday.

The contraband, according to the official, has been seized in the wake of operations covering the provincial capital Kandahar city and several districts recently. The police have arrested nine smugglers for their involvement in the illegal drug business, Xinhua news agency reported.

The police have also destroyed six acres of poppy cultivation during the operations which lasted a couple of days, the official said.

Opium poppy has been largely used in manufacturing heroin. The caretaker Afghan government banned poppy cultivation, and its processing to drug and drug trafficking in April 2022.

In similar operations, the police seized more than 1 tonne of opium poppy and arrested two persons on the charge of involvement in drug business from Badakhshan province last week.

In April 2022, Afghanistan's de-facto authorities banned all cultivation of opium poppy under strict new laws. It saw poppy cultivation drop by around 95 per cent from 233,000 hectares at the end of 2022 to 10,800 hectares in 2023.

Opium is an essential ingredient for manufacturing the street drug heroin, and the class of medical prescription opioids which millions rely on for pain medication nationwide.