Hundreds of smugglers, including four on the UN blacklist, have been arrested and 68 tonnes of drugs recovered in the past two months.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Khalil Bakhtyari, secretary counter-narcotics at the Ministry of Interior, told a press conference that three drug producing factories were destroyed in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar province three days ago.
One person was arrested with 11 tonnes of chemical used in making drugs, he said.
Gen. Bakhtyari said over 600 raids conducted by security personnel in different parts of the country resulted in the arrest of 700 smugglers.
The detainees included four international smugglers whose names existed in the UN black list.
Cases of these alleged smugglers have been transferred to the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) after primary investigation.
The financial value of the drug recovered from smugglers accounted for above 37 million USD, while 226,000 USD cash was also recovered from the detainees.
Bakhtyari urged President Ashraf Ghani to allow the counter-narcotics forces to participate in the already launched nation-wide offensive codenamed ‘Nusrat’ in order to be effectively involved in their mission alongside other security forces.
