A fifth of poppy fields destroyed in Balochistan

QUETTA: Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Director Brigadier Liaquat Ali Toor said on Wednesday that thousands of acres of poppy fields have been destroyed under the poppy destruction campaign in Balochistan.

In a press conference Mr Toor said that in Balochistan, poppy fields were spread over an area of 5,000 acres. He said that poppies were cultivated in canal-irrigated areas for the first time and that these fields were close to the prime minister’s hometown. He said the ANF had planned the destruction campaign to start from warm areas like Nasirabad, Jafferabad, Panjgur and Bolan Jhal Magsi. Mr Toor said 1,050 acres of poppies have been destroyed. He said some influential people of the area were involved in poppy cultivation. Cases were registered against some of them while a few were also arrested, he said, adding that ANF would stop poppy cultivation in Pakistan and make it a poppy-free country as it declared to the United Nations in 1999.

Mr Toor said Afghanistan was the major producer of narcotics and since the war on terror, it has produced 7,000 tonnes of opium. This year, more than three thousand tonnes of opium was expected from Afghanistan. Narcotics were smuggled to Russia from Afghanistan via central Asian states and it was also smuggled to Eastern Europe via Pakistan and Iran, he said. —Staff Report

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