Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 Source: Border Mail (Australia) Copyright: 2007 Border Mail Contact: http://www.bordermail.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1017 POLICE TO HELP AFGHANS CURB HEROIN PRIVATE, armed security guards will protect four Australian Federal Police officers being sent to Afghanistan to help try to curb heroin production in the country. Afghanistan's opium cultivation rose a huge 60 per cent last year. The AFP will send four officers to work alongside Afghan police, with two to be based in the capital Kabul and two to work in Jalalabad. AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said heroin overdose deaths in Australia had fallen from about 1100 a year to just 300 over the past six years - -- partly because of work by the agency in Burma's drug producing areas. Mr Keelty hopes the same pre-emptive strategies will produce results in Afghanistan. Police believe about 20 per cent of the heroin smuggled into Australia comes from Afghanistan. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman