HIGH ALERT AFTER TALIBAN SENDS HUGE DRUG STOCKS TO PAKISTAN

NEW DELHI Indian anti-narcotics agents have heightened vigil at all entry
points from Pakistan following reports that the Taliban had sent nearly 400
tonne of heroin out of Afghanistan since September.

"We are on alert at all entry points from Pakistan. We have specific
intelligence reports that the Taliban passed on all its drug stocks to
Pakistan along with processing machinery and laboratory equipment," a
senior anti-narcotics official told IANS.

Under the Taliban regime, Afghanistan became the largest producer of opium
and heroin and was said to be making almost 85 per cent of the opium
produced world wide.

During 1998-1999, Afghanistan had a bumper opium crop and produced 8,000
tonne of opium that was converted to 800 tonne of heroin. Indian officials
say the Taliban earned a whopping $ 35 billion from drug trafficking last year.

"We've been informed that some 400 tonne of heroin has been sent out of
Afghanistan. We fear it might reach India via Pakistan and then be sent to
overseas destinations," said an official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

In 2000, the Taliban regime claimed it had stopped the production of opium
in a bid to mollify the world community, which had accused it of using
funds from drug trafficking for arms purchases.

Indian officials say the Taliban continued to produce drugs clandestinely.
"We have information that the Taliban had a supply of 400 tonne of heroin
in September. After the September 11 attacks in the United States, they
became desperate.

"As the world heroin demand depends on Afghanistan where the Taliban was
earning a huge profit from the drugs trade, they quickly sent the heroin
across the border," the official said.

"After the US started bombing Afghanistan, there was unregulated movement
of refugees to Pakistan. This was used by the Taliban to dispatch drugs
through traffickers."

Anti-narcotics officials now fear India might become an alternative route
for shipping drugs from Afghanistan following the closure of Balkan routes
through which drugs were earlier supplied to Europe and the US.

"Moreover, the price of heroin is cheaper here (in India), while in Europe
it is high. One kilogram of heroin fetches $ 30,000 in Europe," an official
said. Even the Interpol had said that Afghanistan sent about 120 tonne of
heroin to Western Europe last year.

Authorities here are also concerned that use of India as an alternative
route for sending drugs to Europe could lead to a spurt in terrorist
activities in the country.

"Drug money is directly linked to supplying arms and ammunition to
terrorist groups," an official said, adding that drug traffickers could
link up with Indian terror groups to move drug shipments.

Heroin produced in Afghanistan trafficked across the India-Pakistan border
accounted for a significant percentage of drugs seized by Indian
authorities last year. Almost 35 per cent of the 1,240 kg of heroin seized
by Indian authorities last year is believed to have originated in Afghanistan.

The NCB also arrested six Afghans and 12 Pakistanis for smuggling drugs to
India during the same period. The official said traffickers could use any
route, including sea, postal and air, to send the drugs to India.

The most vulnerable states through which drugs from Afghanistan could be
smuggled are the northwestern states bordering Pakistan, including Jammu
and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Exit routes favoured by traffickers are Mumbai, Delhi and the Tamil Nadu
coast in southern India.