DRUG TRAFFICKING CONTINUES DESPITE STRICT MEASURES

Zahedan, Iran

Despite beefing up security along the border with Afghanistan and having a
new Afghan government in Kabul, Zahedan, the capital of the Iranian
province of Sistan and Baluchestan, is witnessing a wave of drug
trafficking from Afghanistan.

The peak-time of poppy harvest in Afghanistan started at the beginning of
June led to more drugs and narcotics seizure by Iranian anti-drug forces.
Authorities of the province of the Afghanistan-neighboured Sistan and
Baluchestan have seized a total of five tones of drugs including 3.6 tones
of hashish during last two months.

Being found in Iran with more than five grams of heroin is punishable by
death. But despite the prohibition and the heavy penalties imposed by the
authorities against drugs cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan and
Iran, and the agreement on fighting drugs between the two countries signed
last March, the trend has not stopped yet.

Iran was hoping that the new authorities in Kabul and the stability
throughout Afghanistan to decrease the amount of land dedicated to poppy
and therefore was expecting a serious drop in crossing-border drug
trafficking. However, the situation has ironically changed for the worse.

The Taliban had imposed a ban on drugs cultivation and trafficking in 2000,
a move that led to a considerable increase in drug prices in Iran and
Afghanistan. Hence, the price of a kilo of opium sold at $400 in
Afghanistan compared to the normal price of $50.

"In Zahedan, a kilo of opium sold for $750 and for $2,000 in Tehran when
Taliban had banned it. However it is sold now in Tehran at $900 and $600 in
Zahedan," Mehdi Morasaie, Head of the Anti-Drugs Depart- ment in Zahedan,
told Gulf News.

He added, "Prices have dropped since March and expected to drop further in
less than a month with the harvest season reaching its peak".

Although Iran and the Taliban were sworn enemies, Iranian officials managed
to go inside Afghanistan to help Afghan farmers grow alternative crops
after Taliban banned poppy cultivation. Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid
Karzai has also banned drug cultivation and trafficking, yet his government
is not powerful enough to implement the ban round the country.

An Iranian official in Zahedan said that for the time being Iran's experts
are not allowed to enter Helmand, while last year they freely went there
and spent $110,000 in seeds, fertilisers, tractors and fuel to help local
farmers grow alternative crops.

Now warlords faithful to Gol Agha, the present U.S.-backed governor of the
southern province of Kandahar control most of Helmand, which traditionally
produced 60 per cent of Afghanistan's opium. According to the United
Nations drug unit, some 25,000 hectares in Helmand have been dedicated to
poppy cultivation this year.

The transition period opened by the defeat of the Taliban emboldened last
November the farmers to take advantage of the disorder and cultivate poppy
instead of wheat to earn more money.

Golestan sugar company located in the border city of Birjand mid way
between Zahedan and Mashad announced that it is ready to provide seeds and
agricultural facilities for Afghan farmers to cultivate sugar beet and
guarantees to buy their crops.

Even $350 per jibril compensation offered by the Kabul government according
to a British programme doesn't encourage the farmers to destroy their poppy
farms, whose crops have been sold to big traffickers for a minimum of
$1,000 per jibril.

The 1500-km border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the impoverished
situation of the area, aggravated by the four-year drought, might have
forced the residents of the border areas to trade in drugs.

"Whatever the circumstances are, the Iranian authorities consider drug
trafficking a crime against national security," said Reza Afzal, an
anti-drug police officer in Zahedan.

Some 3,125 Iranian police personnel and anti-drug forces have been killed
in the fight against drugs since 1979, half of them in Zahedan alone. Afzal
added," Zahedan is on the front line in the fight against drug smugglers
and anti-drug forces try hard to fight against bandits and international
traffickers. " Anti-drug campaign costs the country $800 million each year.