(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Nangarhar police say they seized 8,185 kilograms of narcotics and arrested dozens of smugglers this year in the eastern province.
The police say they foiled 91 drug smuggling attempts this year (since March 22), when they confiscated 619 liters of alcoholic beverages and 49 vehicles.
Nangarhar police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal told Pajhwok Afghan News in an exclusive interview that the 91 cases were prevented in the past six months of the current year.
During these incidents, he said, 8,185 kilograms of various types of drugs, 619 liters of alcoholic drinks, 49 vehicles and seven mules had been seized.
He the narcotics included, 7,364kg of hashish, 687kg of opium and 134kg of heroin.
Mashriqiwal said 100 individuals were arrested on the charges of drug smuggling, including 43 persons accused of selling drugs and others transporting and smuggling.
Counternarcotics department officials said the number of drug addicts in Nangarhar had increased due to easy access to drugs and unemployment.
Idris Safi, counternarcotics department director, said the number of drug addicts in Nangarhar had reached 100,000.
'However, this survey is not complete; the population of drug addicts is estimated at more than 100,000 people.'
Idris also said they had constructed a 300-bed hospital where 400 drug addicts were being treated. 'But this hospital is not enough.'
A member of the provincial council, Zabihullah Zmaray, said the menace of drugs could not be done away with until some security officials remained involved in the drug trade.
'We have shared with the police many times the issue of open selling of the drugs in the city, but they paid no attention,' Zamary said.
But the police spokesman said the force was doing its level best to prevent drug smuggling and selling.
Mashriqiwal said police had largely prevented drug trafficking, cultivation and business and people should report to the police wherever they saw drugs.
The number of drug addicts nationwide has reached three million people mostly those returning from neighboring Iran.
sa/ma
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