The Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) arrested 69 people on charges of involvement in the drug business and destroyed 62 drug-processing labs in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported on Monday. They found at the sites a huge quantity of materials used in the manufacture of heroin, the agency said. The drug busts come after more than a year of CNPA operations in the province and are part of a significant crackdown on the drug trade by Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled government.
Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium, the raw material used to make heroin. The process of manufacturing heroin involves extracting the sap from the poppy plant and then processing it to remove impurities. The sap is then mixed with various chemicals and heated to create the final product, which is a highly addictive drug. The Afghan government has made efforts to curb the production of heroin but the drug remains a significant source of income for many farmers in the country.