AFGHAN authorities fear this year's vast opium harvest will provide a huge narcotics war chest for Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists who have been squeezed by new financial tracking operations.

The drug money is used to buy everything from satellite phones to ammunition, say officials who predict this year's opium crop will at least match last year's 3600-tonne harvest.

Afghanistan's Counter Narcotics Directorate chief, Mirwais Yasini, says he knows of at least two millionaire drug smugglers in league with Taliban rebels trying to destabilise the country's south. "We know ... the money they make is millions of dollars."

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QUEENSLAND - Health gave a criminal facing two fraud charges approval to possess key ingredients of amphetamines which he then used to set up one of the state's largest illegal drug laboratories.

Erik William Zagata, 39, was given the approvals to possess the ingredients - known as precursors - despite failing to complete a key section on a Queensland Health licence application form which required him to detail his academic credentials or work history.

And the loophole which allowed the fraudster to obtain the drugs has been only partially closed, the department has admitted.

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TWENTY-EIGHT students from Queensland state schools have been disciplined for using or possessing illegal drugs this year, including 10 pupils caught with marijuana at a leadership camp, latest records show.

In another incident, five 11-vear-olds from Toowoomba North Primary School were disciplined after stealing wine from a cask at a parents and citizens' function.

The drug possessions, all for marijuana, were spread across nine schools while 88 students were caught smoking cigarettes and 35 drinking alcohol in schools across the state, according to figures released by the Education Department yesterday.

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