TALIBAN SELLING OFF DRUG STOCKPILES: BULGARIAN POLICE

Sofia -AFP- Afghanistan's Taliban militia has been selling off its heroin
stocks since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Bulgarian police
said on Monday, according to the BTA news agency. "The statement that the
Taliban is rapidly selling off its heroin stocks is true," said Serguei
Damianov, head of the drug department in Bulgaria's National Service for the
Fight Against Organised Crime (NSBOP).

Since the events of September 11, Bulgarian customs have seized three large
packages containing a total of 447 kilograms of heroin out of a total haul
for the year of 1,408 kilograms, he said.

Bulgaria is on the direct Balkan route which stretches from Iran and
Afghanistan to western and northern Europe.

Tajikistan's drug control agency has also said it had noted an increase in
attempts to smuggle narcotics across the border with Afghanistan after the
attacks strikes on Washington and New York.

There are enough opium stockpiles in Afghanistan to supply a country with a
population of 60 million with enough heroin to last it 20 years, a United
Nations official said last week.

Afghanistan is the world's largest poppy producer with an estimated yield of
300 tonnes of poppy a year.