18.02.09 - Operation Diesel Seizes £50m of Heroin in Afghanistan

Hundreds of British and Afghan troops have seized 50 million pounds worth of drugs in a major operation that also killed 20 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.

The haul, which included opium, chemicals and equipment capable of producing heroin with a final street value of over 55 million euros (70 million dollars), took place from February 6-11, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London said.

It left 20 Taliban fighters dead, with four others captured, the ministry said.

More than 700 British Royal Marines and commandos, as well as Afghan soldiers, backed by helicopters raided four drug factories in Sangin Valley, Helmand province, as part of Operation Diesel.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin, much of which emanates from Helmand, where the Taliban is waging a bloody insurgency against Western and Afghan security forces.

Several districts are out of government control and involved in opium poppy cultivation, a highly lucrative trade for insurgents.

British Defence Secretary John Hutton said the operation had cleared Taliban fighters from large areas of Helmand and deprived them of funding, "bringing security and governance to more of the province."

As well as dismantling the drugs operations, the offensive resulted in the seizure of AK-47 assault rifles, PKM machine guns and rocket launchers, plus a motorbike modified for use in a suicide attack.

"The links between the Taliban and the drugs trade are well proven and we know that the revenue from narcotics production directly funds the insurgency," said Brigadier Gordon Messenger, Commander Task Force Helmand.

"Operation Diesel was a clinical precision strike, supported by strong intelligence, which has had a powerful disruptive effect on known insurgent and narcotics networks in the area.

"The success of the operation is a significant boost to the Afghan authorities in their fight against the drugs trade."

There are around 8,300 British soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), many of whom are based in Helmand.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama approved the deployment of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, saying they were needed "to stabilize a deteriorating situation."

The new deployment will significantly build up the 38,000-strong US force already on the ground battling the growing insurgency.

Sangin, a district with a population of around 50,000, is dominated by the Upper Sangin Valley, which the MoD describes as the "Taliban heartland."

The troops seized 1,295 kilogrammes of wet opium, which would be worth six million pounds as heroin, as well as enough chemicals to produce heroin worth 50 million pounds.

They also found vats for refining opium, presses and bags ready to be filled with the drugs.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• afghanistan
• troops
• heroin
• drugs
• army
• marines
• mission
• diesel
• war
• terror
• terrorism

[kierankillerfish]

Luckily all of that beautiful dope will still make it to the streets as the cia is the biggest drug ring in the world.

[micknm]

really you are full of shit people big brother is in charge of growing poppies and the farmers are nothing but slaves they dont get shit goto south america and who makes the money the fucking same people cia and bushes and clinton and gores and obamas and then some under this creature named rothchildes got that

and the queen of england own that shit you dont mess with organized crime bosses

[JukemDrawles89]

yeah but if we destroy most of the opium the taliban wouldnt be able to buy weapons or ammo

[Mo0nBugGy1]

I doubt it will work at all.

[ricksimmonds]

yeah your right, thats the very long time plan lol

[Mo0nBugGy1]

Ahhhhhh i see. I heard that coalition forces backed by their government are trying to persuade the farmers to farm something else, and their going to give them alot of money to help them do so.

[ricksimmonds]

reason being the farmers need to farm the opium to support their families, destroy the opium and you destroy a farmers income. he will then be jobless, hate us and probably join the taliban

once the opium has been sold the taliban and made into heroin it can then be seized, farmer still has his money, taliban dont have their heroin which they then sell and with the profits by weaponary etc

[dudupile]

better than nothing. but its better to tackle the root of the problem than snatching finished products. help the afghan farmers produce normal crops efficiently enough that their profits are equal or better than growing opium.

[YesWeCannabis20]

legalize marijuana

[Mo0nBugGy1]

I see that they only caputure properlly produced heroin but leave farmers to tend to there opium fields, it seem kinda strange considering the way heroin is made and all.