July 21, 2008	Monday	Rajab 17, 1429

KABUL: Afghan counter narcotics police have seized 44 tonnes of heroin and opium in the last three months, a big achievement in the fight against record-breaking drug production, a top government official said on Sunday.

Afghanistan’s poppy fields produced 93 per cent of the world’s opium last year, with more land under drug cultivation than Colombia, Bolivia and Peru combined, the United Nations says.

But Afghan authorities say they are making some progress in cutting drug production, with more provinces expected to be declared poppy-free this year. A poor poppy harvest and high wheat prices are also expected to discourage drug production.

“We have seized more than one tonne of heroin, 43 tonnes of opium and 256 tonnes of cannabis in the past three months from all over Afghanistan,” Deputy Interior Minister General Dawood Dawood told reporters in the Afghan capital Kabul.

“Around 463 cases of people involved in drugs issues have been finalised. That includes foreign and Afghan drug traffickers,” he said.

Illegal drugs are estimated to be worth more than $3 billion a year to the Afghan economy. That money helps fuel official corruption and also helps the Taliban insurgency through a 10 per cent tax the militants impose on poppy farmers.—Reuters