AFGHAN DRUGS LINKED TO "TERRORISM" -U.N. OFFICIAL

DUSHANBE, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Tajik authorities burned a haul of
drugs smuggled from Afghanistan on Tuesday in a public display
witnessed by a U.N. senior drug representative who said the narcotics
trade was linked to "terrorism."

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of heroin, most of which
makes its way to Russia and Europe across neighbouring Tajikistan and
other former Soviet Central Asian states.

"There is a big concern...about the linkages between drug smuggling
in this region and other forms of illegal activities, including
trafficking of firearms and terrorism," Antonella Deledda Titchener,
regional representative for the U.N. drug control and crime
prevention office, told Reuters.

"In Tajikistan, all the drugs come from Afghanistan," said Deledda
Titchener who was present when the 320 kg (700 lbs) of drugs -- which
included 100 kg (220 lbs) of heroin -- was burned at a textile plant
in Dushanbe.

The drugs trade is believed to be a source of financing for
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, who are coming under pressure to hand
over Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, wanted by the United
States over last week's attacks on New York and Washington.

Public burnings of drugs regularly take place after seizures, but
only after criminal cases have been concluded.

A Tajik official said the haul incinerated on Tuesday had a street
value of $30 million in Europe.

"There is a belief that drug money is behind forms of terrorism, but
to what extent nobody can say," Deledda Titchener said.

Tajikistan is alleged to be a base for gangs of armed insurgents
which have regularly crossed into neighbouring Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan, fighting government troops, in recent years.

The Uzbek authorities fear they are attempting to set up an Islamic
state in the region. Others say they are merely trying to control
lucrative smuggling routes. Deledda Titchener sees a clear connection
between smuggling and terrorism.

"There is no doubt that by reducing one of the two, the other will
suffer," she said.