British Troops' Afghan Heroin Smuggling Under Spotlight

13:44 British troops' role in the smuggling of heroin from southern Afghanistan could no longer be kept under wraps 0 Comments

British Troops' Afghan Heroin Smuggling Under Spotlight: "British troops' role in the smuggling of heroin from southern Afghanistan could no longer be kept under wraps. The British Defense Ministry on Sept. 12 confirmed there were allegations that soldiers were using military planes to smuggle drugs out of Afghanistan, but called them 'unsubstantiated.' However, they said they said they are investigating and taking precautions.
British troops moved into the southern province of Helmand in 2005 at the time the opium explosion in that province began. It was during the British troops' presence in the province that the Taliban took overall control there. Under the watchful eyes of some 9,000 British troops, opium production in Helmand rose from 1,500 tons to 4,200 tons.
Last year, Britain's Sunday Times reported one drug dealer telling the newspaper that members of the military were the second largest buyers of heroin after foreign drug lords. The newspaper was told: 'The soldiers whose term of duty is about to finish, they give an order to our boss. They are carrying these drugs in the military airlines and they can't be reached because they are military. They can take it to the U.S.A. or England.' A team of detectives from Britain's Ministry of Defence's special investigations branch is believed to be heading the investigation into the claims.
Throughout this period when the British troops were smuggling drugs, London kept attacking Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother as the main drug lord in the area, with the aim to create an anti-Karzai lobby among policymakers and legislators in Washington."