Tehran, November 11: Iran’s national police chief says that 90 percent of Afghanistan’s opium poppies are produced in provinces that are under British control.
“90 percent of the opium poppies are produced in Afghanistan’s southern provinces, which are under British control, and the Afghan government has not that much control over the areas,” said Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, who is also the head of Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters.
“Today, Afghanistan is not only a producer of drugs, but it is turning into a consumer of drugs,” the Fars news agency quoted Ahmadi-Moqaddam as saying on Tuesday.
He noted that Iran is providing tractors and agricultural equipment to Afghan farmers to encourage them to substitute other agricultural products for opium poppies.
—–Agencies