KABUL: The Customs authorities in Hamid Karzai International Airport foiled a bid to smuggle 18 kg heroin to India and Canada and arrested eight individuals including a woman. Afghan Interior ministry said seven Afghan nationals were looking to smuggle 4.9kg of heroin to India after placing it in 499 capsules.
A statement by MoI said the individuals were arrested by border customs authorities forces after they were identified while going through checkings.
The statement further added that a woman was arrested while she was attempting to smuggle 14kg of heroin to Dubai and then to Canada.
MoI said the woman had placed the woman had professionally placed the heroin in curtain materials and was arrested while she was going through checkings.
The statement by MoI also added that the arrests were made in close cooperation with the Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Kabul customs officials.
Afghanistan has been the greatest illicit drugs producer in the entire world and opium production has been on the rise since the US-led invasion in 2001 despite billions have been invested by international community in counter-narcotics projects.
This comes as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that Afghan farmers grew an “unprecedented” 209,000 hectares of opium poppy in 2013, surpassing the previous high of 193,000 hectares in 2007.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in October last year that more than 80 percent of the world’s opium were produced in Afghanistan.
According to SIGAR the opium cultivation has been a “significant” revenue source for the Taliban-led insurgency.
