By Habib Rahman Sherzai
Counternarcotics police on Tuesday detained a military officer and two soldiers after recovering 19 kilograms of heroin they carried in a military pick up vehicle in northern Baghlan province.
Baghlan deputy police chief Col. Abdul Rashid Bashir told Pajhwok Afghan News the drugs were being smuggled from northeastern Badakhshan province to Kabul. He said the anti-drug police seized the narcotics during a cordon in Pul-i-Khumri, the provincial capital.
Counternarcotics official Col. Nizamuddin Nizam said a military recruitment commander in northern Balkh province, Abdul Samad, had been arrested along with two soldiers in connection with smuggling the drugs.
Security officials say heroin, chars and other drugs weighing 700kg have been confiscated from passenger and other vehicles during the past two months and more than 20 people arrested.
Nearly 309 kg of drugs were seized from a car in the northern Salang’s Malkhan area on the way from Tala wa Barfak district to the central capital Kabul. The drugs had been skillfully hidden in the car’s fame.