Afghan opium is being processed into
high-grade heroin in clandestine Turkish drug labs for distribution in
Europe and Russia, Russia’s anti-drug chief has revealed. The
trafficking route was exposed after a joint Russian-Afghan anti-drug
operation.
“The cargo traveled through
Badakhshan-Doshi-Bamiyan-Herat, then further through Iran and into
Turkey, where the opium was processed in well-equipped laboratories…into
high quality heroin, and then was to be sent to Europe and Russia,” Ivanov said during an anti-narcotics committee meeting.
#ISIS uses Turkey for trafficking heroin to Europe – Russian anti-drugs chief https://t.co/nfXx9Rjgzn pic.twitter.com/2QWyJviif0
— RT (@RT_com) December 20, 2015
The head of Russia’s federal anti-drug
agency (FKSN) Viktor Ivanov reported that 600 kilograms of opium was
seized in a joint operation carried out by Russian and Afghan special
anti-drug units in the city of Doshi in Afghanistan’s Baglan Province.
The operation was conducted in
mid-December by Afghanistan’s Kabul Gates anti-drug unit with
intelligence support from the FKSN, Ivanov said. The drug shipment was
found in an Afghani truck traveling to Turkey via Iran.
The FSKN head stressed that drug
trafficking has enabled Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) to boost
its numbers four-fold since 2014, Ivanov said.
“The spike in IS fighters corresponds
with the annual increase of drug smuggling in the Middle East, which is
confirmed by the growing number of heroin seizures in the region,”
Ivanov said.
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
is “actively engaged with drug trafficking,” Ivanov said, adding that
according to the FSKN estimates, the group’s income from illegal drug
trade “makes up to $200-500 million annually.”
The original source of this article is RT
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