AFGHAN DRUG LORDS SET UP HEROIN LABS

'The West Kills Us With Bombs - We Will Respond With This'

Hundreds of kilos of heroin are being manufactured each week by factories
recently set up in eastern Afghanistan, prompting fears of a new influx of
high-quality, easily transportable drugs into Europe.

The renewed production of heroin, which had ceased following edicts by the
Taliban regime and last autumn's US-led military action, is a blow to the
British-led, multimillion-pound effort to stop drugs production in the
country. Tony Blair has given the campaign his personal backing, committing
more than UKP20 million of British taxpayers' money to the project. That
backing convinced a reluctant Afghan government to announce a ban on the
growth of opium six months ago.

But the return of the refining laboratories, each capable of producing
UKP400,000 worth of heroin a week, has revealed the failure of the programme
to make a significant impact.

The production of the high-value drug could further destabilise Afghanistan.
In recent weeks there have been several bomb attacks and assassination
attempts. Some have been blamed on elements close to al-Qaeda or former
Taliban fighters, but others, such as the murder of Abdul Qadir, a
Vice-President and Minister, in Kabul in July, have been blamed on
drug-related feuds. The bomb that exploded in a warehouse in the eastern
city of Jalalabad on Friday, killing at least 26 people, has also been
linked to narcotics, although officials yesterday said it was probably an
accident caused by badly stored construction explosives.

The Observer has learnt of three heroin laboratories in the lawless hills
south-east of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan. There are
believed to be several more. Two factories have been established in the
Acheen district and one in the Adal Khel district of Nangarhar province.

One local resident, Naeem Shinwari, said the factories were working in broad
daylight, producing between 70 and 100 kilos (154lb-220lb) of refined heroin
a day, with the capacity to increase production if the supply of raw poppy
remains constant. Afghanistan has supplied more than two-thirds of the
world's opium for nearly a decade.

So far the British-led eradication programme has led to the destruction of
16,500 hectares (41 acres) of poppy field, out of an estimated total of
80,000. Farmers were offered $1,750 for each hectare that was destroyed.
However the programme has been marred by allegations of corruption. Huge
stockpiles of opium, used as a form of credit in rural Afghanistan, have
meant that the supply of raw materials for the drug has not been affected.

In the early 1990s Afghanistan produced more than 90 per cent of heroin
reaching the UK. The Taliban erad icated opium production in a bid to gain
recognition from the international community in 2000. Heroin is far easier
to smuggle than bulky opium. Previously, 10 or more kilos of opium had to be
smuggled through Iran or Central Asia to laboratories in Turkey to be turned
into heroin. Refining the drug in Afghanistan makes it easier to smuggle
high-value consignments.

Abdul Wakeel, of Ghani Khel district, told The Observer that heroin and
heroin-refining chemicals were being openly traded in local markets. He said
the prices of heroin varied from UKP500 for a kilo of poor quality 'brown'
heroin for smoking to more than UKP1,500 for pure, highly refined heroin
which could be injected. Heroin for intravenous use would fetch UKP50,000
per kilo in Britain.

Haji Daulat Mohammad, a shopkeeper, said that prices were low because opium
stocks remained high and heroin production was expected to rise sharply in
coming months.

'Even if there is no cultivation of poppy next year, the existing stock is
sufficient for 12 months at least,' he said. 'It may be haram (forbidden by
Islam), but there is drought, unemployment and no other way to make my
living.

'The West say making heroin is wrong and damages human beings, but they drop
bombs on innocent civilians. We have no other way except to destroy the USA
through narcotics. They shall drop bombs on us, and we shall send them this
gift.'