Patrolling of the Afghanistan-Iran border has improved over the past one year, and with it there is a rise in detection of narcotics smuggling. The Directorate of Counter Narcotics in Herat seized
Patrolling of the Afghanistan-Iran border has improved over the past one year, and with it there is a rise in detection of narcotics smuggling. The Directorate of Counter Narcotics in Herat seized Pakistani rupees worth 1.3 million USD before it could be distributed among smugglers on the Iran-Afghanistan border.Faqeer Gul, head of the directorate, says apart from the money, the authorities confiscated 433 kg of opium in the first quarter of 2012; it has increased to 508 kg in the current year. Some 388 individuals including 12 Iranian nationals and women were arrested on smuggling charges.
Narcotics is mostly smuggled through Nimroz, Herat and Farah.
Commander of the Western Fourth Border Zone General Sher Ahmad Maldani told Killid his men were doing their best to take on the smugglers despite constraints of personnel and equipment. The border police are seriously understaffed. In places where Iran has at least seven battalions on the border, Afghanistan has only one.
Taj Mohammad is well known as a smuggler in Kohsan district, Herat. In a phone interview with Killid he said he was driven by poverty to smuggling drugs. “Now I am earning 1,000 USD from selling a kilo of crystals. Police operations have increased (on the border) but by bribing some security posts we can take narcotics out of the country.” According to Mohammad, he works with a group of some 20 smugglers “who are residents of Nimroz, Herat and Farah … and work with colleagues in Iran and Turkmenistan”.
Alternative crops
Abdul Satar and Ahmad Fahim are peasants in Shindand district. They say they are forced to cultivate opium by Taleban. They sell it to traders from Helmand and Farah. The Taleban raise millions of dollars from narcotics trafficking, and finance their war with the government and foreign forces. A new report by the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Afghanistan Opium Winter Risk Assessment, says illicit opium cultivation is expected to spread this year.
Toryalai Halimyar, deputy commander of Western Fourth Border Zone, says he has evidence to prove the Taleban force people to grow opium in “insecure” Farah districts. Smugglers arrested at the Islam Qala border with Iran and Torghondi with Turkmenistan admitted to links with the Taleban.
Humayun Nazari, an expert, believes narcotics is the “only source” of Taleban funding. He estimates their annual income from smuggling at 4 billion USD. More than two million people are involved in the cultivation of opium to manufacture of drugs process, and “most of them are working for Taleban”.
Herat provincial council member Noor Mohammad Zarifi says the authorities have tried very hard to replace opium with saffron, the costliest spice in the world, but have failed. The Taleban have been able to prevail on peasants in the most insecure districts of Herat like Gulran, Keshk Kohna, Pashtoon Zarghoon and Shindand by threatening to kill anyone who cultivates saffron. Last year two trucks transporting saffron were attacked, and the drivers killed.
Abdul Waseam, a farmer in Kushk-e-Rubatsangi district, says people are caught between the Taleban and the government. “The Taleban don’t let us cultivate saffron even though it is very good for us. They even beat us. The government doesn’t let us cultivate opium. Life is hard for us.”
Abdul Qadeer who grows saffron says unless the government can provide security he would go back to opium farming.
Engineer Bashir Ahmad Rashidi, head of the Afghanistan Saffron Growers Association, confirms security is a problem in Herat. Some 700 hectares of land are covered by saffron this year, and the yields were 2,800 kg last year.
Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, spokesperson of Herat police, says special arrangements have been planned to ensure security for saffron farmers. Security agencies are trying to clear areas of Taleban. Killid tried to contact Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taleban spokesman, but was unsuccessful.
Police raids
An opium factory on the border with Iran in Kohsan district was recently raided by the police. An Iranian national was arrested, and 9 kilos of opium crystals were seized. Tens of litres of ammonia used in the preparation process were found in the factory.
Faqir Gul, counter narcotics director at the Herat Provincial Police Command, told Killid opium factories were located in areas under Taleban control.
Lack of political will and administrative corruption have actively aided the clandestine narcotics smuggling. Most arrests are of small-time smugglers, says Wali Mohammad Hadid, a writer and journalist.
Herat’s Directorate of Counter Narcotics says 224 arrests were made in the province since 2012. Only 20 were “influential individuals”, he adds.
Faqir Gul says the arrested individuals have been convicted for terms ranging from six months to 20 years imprisonment. A border policeman was also among the convicts.
In 2012, according to the UNODC, opium farmers sold their crops for 196 USD per kilo. Each kilo produces 100 grams of pure heroin. The US retail prices for heroin (with a low level of purity) is, according to UNODC of the order of $172 a gram. The price per gram of pure heroin is substantially higher.
Ghulam Jailani Daqiq, director of counter narcotics in Herat estimates there are half a million drug addicts in the province.
