Afghan police destroy poppy fields, arrest 15 offenders

Kabul:  The counter-narcotics police have wrecked 382 acres of poppy in north Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province over the past two months, the provincial police said in a statement on Saturday.
The illicit crops demolished during operations were conducted in parts of Baharak, Darayem, Kashm, Juram, and Argo districts, as well as provincial capital Faizabad city, the statement said.
Meanwhile, police have detained 15 people on the charge of illegal drug smuggling and selling in the provinces of Nimroz, Kunduz, Helmand, Nangarhar, and Ghazni, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs Abdul Mateen Qani posted on social media Sunday.
Poppy cultivation in the war-ravaged country has fallen by 95 percent, according to figures released by the United Nations last year.
The Afghan caretaker government banned the cultivation of opium poppy and the trade of opium in Afghanistan in April 2022.
UNI/XINHUA