By IANS
Islamabad : Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is increasing alarmingly by 20 to 30 percent every season though US-led forces are operating in the war-ravaged country, an officer of Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) says.
Kabul’s failure to stem the menace is multiplying Pakistan’s problems in hunting down drug smugglers, Dawn Wednesday quoted Brig. Babar Idrees, who heads the ANF’s Punjab unit, as saying.
During the current season, poppy was being cultivated over an area of around 180,000 hectares across the border, Idrees said, adding that nearly 36 percent of Afghanistan’s heroin production was being smuggled to western countries through Pakistan.
“Traffickers choose Balochistan considering it a safe passage for smuggling, as its long boundary is less restrained, rather perforated. However, efforts are on to net drug pushers and scores of them have already been put behind bars,” the ANF chief said.
The ANF currently has only 2,400 personnel and this would be raised to 3,100 to reinforce its capability to operate against drug pushers, Idrees added.
Because of the shortage of staff, the force was unable to install pickets or raid remote places, he said.
According to Idrees, the ANF had also arrested a few politicians involved in drug smuggling from Lahore recently. He, however, declined to name them.