Kabul
A drug smuggler was arrested and 70 kilograms of opium poppy were confiscated from his possession in the northern Badakhshan province, sources reported.
The arrested man was attempting to smuggle the opium from Badakhshan to the southern Helmand province on Sunday when police on a tip-off raided his hideout and confiscated the drug, reported sources.
Without providing more details, the media outlet quoting local officials said that no efforts would be spared to make Badakhshan a drug-free province, reported sources.
Poppy cultivation is still being carried out in Afghanistan despite a ban implemented by the Taliban on the growth, production and distribution of illicit drugs..
The number of drug addicts reached nearly four million in Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate treated 20,000 of them. This process is going on in the center and in the provinces, Mawlawi Hassibullah, head of the Counter-Narcotics Deputy Ministry had said.
Notably, the drug addicts also requested the government to provide support for them.
The Islamic Emirate may provide us with a shelter to continue living in it. I have suffered a lot. I am an Afghan and a woman, said a female drug addict.
The Taliban officially banned the production of opium and other narcotics in Afghanistan on April 3.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said, the supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundazda has issued a decree prohibiting the cultivation, trafficking, and use of any kind of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has been a global hub for opium production, estimated to supply 80 per cent of the world’s opiate users.
