Afghan drug raid seizes more than tonne of heroin

Police also found chemicals and equipment to manufacture and process the drugs

KABUL: A special Afghan task force has seized more than a tonne of heroin in a raid on an illegal narcotics factory in the northeast of the country, the interior ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

The bust by 60 police officers in the remote province of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan and Pakistan, also uncovered 1,500 litres of morphine, the statement added.

In addition, police found chemicals and equipment to manufacture and process the drugs.

No arrests were made, but at least two weapons were seized in the raid, the statement said. It is believed the plant had been abandoned.



Afghanistan has long been the largest producer of opium and heroin in the world, with profits from the illicit trade helping fund Taliban insurgents who have been waging a deadly insurgency against government and NATO forces.

A tonne of heroin has a street value of about 40 million euros in France, according to United Nations figures.

However, a report by the UN last month said lower levels of cultivation meant total opium production dropped 48 per cent in 2015 over 2014.