Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jan 2002
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2002 BBC
Contact: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/forum/
Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

PAKISTAN MAKES HUGE HEROIN HAUL

Pakistani security forces have seized nearly a ton of heroin with a street 
value of more than $50m - one of the world's largest-ever hauls of the 
drug. The raid outside the town of Turbat near the Iranian border in 
Baluchistan Province sparked a gun battle which left one trafficker dead 
and another wounded, Reuters reported.

Agents found 630 kg (1,386 pounds) of pure heroin and 250 kg of morphine, 
which they believe originated in Afghanistan.

Four alleged smugglers, who were using camels to transport the drugs, have 
been arrested.

"It appears to be the first large quantity of heroin seized with origins in 
Afghanistan," one officer told the Associated Press. Another said it could 
be the biggest seizure of pure heroin in Pakistan's history. Correspondents 
say the drugs haul is a strong indication that large-scale heroin 
production has resumed in Afghanistan. The country was the world's biggest 
producer of the drug until the Taleban authorities destroyed all poppy 
fields in areas under their control two years ago. The fundamentalist 
regime collapsed in December after intense US bombing.

Afghan origins Poppy production flourishes in the "Golden Crescent", which 
takes in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

Pakistan was a major heroin-producing country until 1998 when, with US 
backing, the anti-narcotics force clamped down on poppy farmers in the 
country's north-western tribal areas.

The United Nations declared the country poppy-free in 2000. Pakistan has an 
estimated two million heroin addicts, more than any other country in the world.

The United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) estimates 
that Afghanistan produced 3,276 tonnes of opium, out of a worldwide total 
of 4,691 tonnes in 2000.

Heroin is synthesised from morphine, one of the main constituents of the 
sap of papaver somniferum - the opium poppy.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl