(ConservativeHub.com) – Afghanistan had a booming drug trade when the United States invaded the country in 2001. The country profited from its thousands of acres of poppies, the plants used to produce heroin and other illicit opiates. It appears little has changed after 20 years of occupation by American military forces.
On Tuesday, September 21, Indian officials announced the seizure of nearly 6,000 pounds of heroin with a preliminary estimated street value of about $2.72 billion. Law enforcement officers said the heroin originated in Afghanistan.
Indian officials said on Tuesday they had seized nearly three tons of heroin originating from Afghanistan worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion) amid the chaos following last month's takeover of the country by the Taliban. https://t.co/qXP2bZpgdv
— Newsmax (@newsmax) September 21, 2021
India’s equivalent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), said it received a tip about a ship from an Iranian port suspected of carrying an illegal shipment. DRI agents inspected the load when it arrived at India’s Mundra Port and withheld two cargo containers after confirming the presence of heroin.
The Taliban claims it intends to crack down on the production and export of heroin. However, it remains unclear whether this claim is genuine. The US State Department reported in 2000 that the extremist group profited from taxing poppy crops and earned additional indirect revenue from the plants’ refinement into heroin and the trafficking of the final product.
Meanwhile, Indian law enforcement officials said they arrested two individuals, adding that their investigation is ongoing.
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