By KUNA,
London : The Taliban took more than USD 100 million (50 million pounds) from the opium trade in Afghanistan last year, the head of the United Nations’ anti-narcotics agency told the BBC Tuesday.
The money was raised from a 10 percent religious tax or tithe on farmers in the areas they control, according to Antonio Maria de Costa, global head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
“We estimate the farm gate value (of the opium crop) is USD one billion (500 million pounds) in 2007,” de Costa told BBC radio.
He said that, in addition to the tax, there were two other major sources of revenue.
“One is protection to laboratories and the other is that the insurgents offer protection to cargo moving opium across the border,” he said.
The final figures for this year’s harvest have yet to be released but yield and proceeds are likely to be down slightly due to drought, infestation and a poppy ban enforced in the north and east of Afghanistan, the BBC said.
“The money would be somewhat lower but not enormously,” de Costa said, but he added that the last few years have seen abundant poppy harvests, with Afghan farmers cultivating more than global demand.
“Last year Afghanistan produced about 8,000 tonnes of opium. The world in the past few years has consumed about 4,000 tonnes in opium.
“This leaves a surplus. It is stored somewhere and not with the farmers,” he went on.
It is not known whether these stockpiles are held by traffickers, corrupt Afghan officials and politicians, or the Taliban themselves, but they represent hundreds of millions of dollars, the BBC noted.
Opium does not deteriorate with age, and holds its value.
De Costa said he feared that if stockpiles were in the hands of terrorists they could be used to fund future activities.
The British government is spending more than a quarter of a billion pounds over three years, working with the Afghan government to strengthen counter-narcotics institutions, setting up specialised courts, police and legal teams, and looking at alternative crops for poppy farmers.