The
drug business of the Taliban
In
the triangle border from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as many hard drugs
are seized as nowhere else in the world. 80 per cent of it come from Afghanistan.
According to estimates of the German Federal Criminal Investigation Office
(BKA) the Taliban - despite contrary announcements
- is directly involved in this billions-worth drug trade. A report from
the Iranian-Afghan border area, by
Joerg Brase, edited by the second channel of the German State Television.
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| Iranian soldiers arrest drug smugglers |
For
Iranian soldiers at the Iranian-Afghan boundary it is deadly routine: taking
cover take behind meager hills, the small path down in the valley thereby
firmly in the visor. When a camel caravan from the neighboring country
Afghanistan bends around the corner, the soldiers open fire. Combat takes
ten minutes, then it is quiet on the stony way. A smuggler is dead, another
arrested, the rest could flee.
500
Kilos hard drugs captured in on one day
For
the first time a western team was allowed to turn in this restricted area.
The commander of the Iranian group of soldiers presents proudly the booty
- brown, viscous juice, raw opium. "That should be a gift for you in the
west ", he says. Jubilant the Iranians draw back. They just captured 500
Kilos of hard drugs.
A
few kilometers away camels are decaying in the sun, the remainders of the
caravan. They came from the Afghan province of Nimruz. Loaded with
the material that brings a little prosperity to an extremely poor country,
which does not have otherwise much to offer to its inhabitants.
Raw
opium seized by the tonnes
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| Seized drugs |
Mohammad
Fallah, director of the Iranian anti-drug commission: " in the last decade
the civil war destroyed the entire infrastructure in Afghanistan. Also
the transportation routes are broken. Thus the farmers looked a product
up, with which they can obtain a tidy gain with small quantities. Today
we are therefore at the point, at that the entire international community
are threatened. "
Raw
opium seized by the tonnes. Here in the triangle between Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Iran as many hard drugs are seized as nowhere else
in the world. Still the most important smuggler paths pull themselves
Iran by the meager mountains into Turkey, where the Opium is continued
to process. The final products come over the Balkans until Germany. Since
the Taliban 1996 took over power, it all became worse. Leo Schuster,
from the Federal Criminal Investigation Office Wiesbaden (BKA): ", unfortunately
we must admit a clear increase of the cultivated areas and the yield quantities.
The supply increased by a factor of three. "
 |
| Drug
raid in Hamburg |
The
Taliban plays the cooperative role
Drug
raid in Hamburg. 80 per cent of the hard drugs come from Afghanistan. Over
2,000 deaths due to drugs during the last year. Only the small fish are
seized, a few grams of heroin. To convince the main supplier, Afghanistan,
to stop the cultivation of poppy, international assistance is promised.
The Taliban plays the cooperative role. But the drug investigators are
sceptical. Leo Schuster, BKA: "we assume poppy is still cultivated and
that the opium stocks have a magnitude of two to three years of consumption".
The
poppy fields in Afghanistan continue to bloom
 |
| Blooming poppy fields in Afghanistan |
Mohamed
Fallah, director of the Iranian anti-drug commission: " thus even if the
Afghan farmers wanted to cultivate something else, that would not be so
simple. If its government states today that Opium production is stopped
, then they should tell us, what their farmers produce instead. "
The
Iranians don't believe it. According to them there was a bad harvest only
because of the dryness in the last two years. Thus the kilo price for raw
opium, which is won from the blooms of the poppies, shot at 200 dollar
up from 30 dollar per Kilo. The fields in Afghanistan continue to flower.
Many Afghans became specialists after decades of cultivation . A golden
handicraft, and the strictly Islamic Taliban government takes the money
from the drug trade. Leo Schuster, BKA: " the international estimates are
that the Taliban organizes the drug trade not directly, but profits from
it."
The
country lives from drug trade
With
an estimated year's turnover of approximately 50 billion dollars
there's plenty of income for the strict Islam pupils. Nevertheless the
Taliban allegedly wants to stop the opium cultivation, because, after all
the Koran forbids the drug consumption, so the religious argument. Nobody
control this, and most observers do not believe them a word. To the Taliban
it's just a way to get international aid funds. The country - and concomitantly
its government - lives until today from the drug trade. The numbers of
the Iranian border guards exceed even those of the German authorities.
General
Mohamad Shafii, director of the Antidrugs unit Zahedan: " our statistics
disprove the statements of the Afghans that there would be no more drug
smuggling. That is contrary to what we seize at our boundaries. Our
yield shows that today in Afghanistan actually ten times more drugs are
produced than ten years ago. "
At
the Afghan-Iranian boundary war prevails
The
smugglers and drug barons become always more brutal. They maintain highly
prepared armies and have heavy machine guns, air defense cannons, garnet
throwers, etc. At the Afghan-Iranian boundary prevails a war, which costs
each year the life of 200 border soldiers. The government in Teheran spends
millions into new border attachments because of the rising number of the
drug-addicted in Iran. Ditches were up-poured pulled, earth barriers, whole
valleys were fenced.
General
Mohamad Shafii: " the border attachments, which we established, changed
the flow of drug smuggling. The heavy motorized and armed drug caravans
were stopped thereby. The smugglers had to transfer to camels and motorcycles,
or go even to foot. The express way is close. They cannot feel any longer
as safe at the east boundary as in former times. They were forced to modify
their tactics. "
 |
| Drug smuggler |
The
drug trade continues
Now
the smugglers come in the dusk. They feel so safe that they let us ride
along until short before the Iranian boundary. They camouflage their auto,
drive only at night with modern night-vision devices into the restricted
area. There they will meet the caravans later and will reload the drug.
Despite all checks, at least 80 per cent of the drugs come through. The
fact that thereby something is lost is for the smugglers just deadly routine.
A painable loss with the business with death, in a country, so poor that
a human life counts not much.
Aired
25 September 2001, "Frontal 21", Second Channel of German State Television,
ZDF. BTW, in Hamburg, Germany, the attack to the WTC
and Pentagon was planned. One of the reasons why this was not censored
is that what "despite contrary
announcements" exactly means is not
explained. Below the horrible truth.
