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Pubdate: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 Source: Reuters (Wire) Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited Author: Sergei Karazy AFGHAN DRUGS LINKED TO "TERRORISM" -U.N. OFFICIAL DUSHANBE, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Tajik authorities burned a haul of drugs smuggled from Afghanistan on Tuesday in a public display witnessed by a U.N. senior drug representative who said the narcotics trade was linked to "terrorism." Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of heroin, most of which makes its way to Russia and Europe across neighbouring Tajikistan and other former Soviet Central Asian states. "There is a big concern...about the linkages between drug smuggling in this region and other forms of illegal activities, including trafficking of firearms and terrorism," Antonella Deledda Titchener, regional representative for the U.N. drug control and crime prevention office, told Reuters. "In Tajikistan, all the drugs come from Afghanistan," said Deledda Titchener who was present when the 320 kg (700 lbs) of drugs -- which included 100 kg (220 lbs) of heroin -- was burned at a textile plant in Dushanbe. The drugs trade is believed to be a source of financing for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, who are coming under pressure to hand over Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, wanted by the United States over last week's attacks on New York and Washington. Public burnings of drugs regularly take place after seizures, but only after criminal cases have been concluded. A Tajik official said the haul incinerated on Tuesday had a street value of $30 million in Europe. "There is a belief that drug money is behind forms of terrorism, but to what extent nobody can say," Deledda Titchener said. Tajikistan is alleged to be a base for gangs of armed insurgents which have regularly crossed into neighbouring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, fighting government troops, in recent years. The Uzbek authorities fear they are attempting to set up an Islamic state in the region. Others say they are merely trying to control lucrative smuggling routes. Deledda Titchener sees a clear connection between smuggling and terrorism. "There is no doubt that by reducing one of the two, the other will suffer," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh