Afghan police destroy 236 tonnes of hashish in Spin Boldak
Afghan counter-narcotics forces found and destroyed 236.8 tonnes of hashish buried near Spin Boldak, Kandahar, in June 2008 with NATO support. UNODC called it the largest drug seizure in history, with a wholesale value of about $400 million.
🇦🇫 Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province · Afghanistan
Afghan police found and destroyed a vast stash of hashish near Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, close to the Pakistan border, on Monday 9 June 2008.[1][2]The cannabis resin was buried in trenches and bunkers in the desert, and the cache was so extensive that NATO aircraft were called in to bomb it.[1][2]
UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa congratulated Afghanistan’s interior minister for the seizure of 236.8 tons of hashish with a potential wholesale value of $400 million, according to the NATO operation in the country.[3][4][2]He called it a massive seizure and a major success for counter-narcotics in Afghanistan.[3][4]NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said the find seriously crippled the Taliban’s ability to buy weapons, and its commander General David McKiernan said the Afghan National Police Special Task Force had proved its capability against the drug trade.[1][2]
The same operation also turned up five tons of opium, which is not counted in this report’s cannabis figures.[1]
The operation also resulted in the arrest of multiple drug dealers, including some from Iran.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
NATO and press accounts put the haul at 260 tons while the UNODC statement gives 236.8 tons; this report uses the UNODC figure.
The discovery is dated to Monday 9 June in press accounts while the UNODC statement is dated 12 June.
No arrests were reported in the opened sources.
No photograph of the seizure with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
The same VOA page also reports a separate Interior Ministry account of more than 5,000 kilograms of opium seized in Helmand province, which is not part of this cannabis report.
Counter-narcotics police in Afghanistan's Takhar province stopped a car in Taluqan, the provincial capital, and arrested four suspected traffickers. Police said 40 kilograms of hashish and 143 kilograms of opium were hidden in compartments in the vehicle, and the provincial police spokesman put the narcotics seized at more than 180 kilograms.
Police in Pasaband district, Ghor detained 27 people and destroyed eight drug factories during a 20-day operation, seizing 8.5 kg of processed hashish among other drugs and vehicles. The detainees were referred to court and all seized narcotics were destroyed by burning.
Khost anti-narcotics officers seized about 3.2 kg of hashish and more than 3,215 narcotic pills in Speri district, arresting one person. The hashish is the cannabis component of the mixed seizure; the pills and a further 1.4 kg were reported without a clear cannabis link.
Anti-narcotics police stopped a shipment of 245 kilograms of hashish in the Kotol Anjuman area of Paryan district, Panjshir province, and arrested four people. The suspects were referred to judicial authorities after initial questioning. The ministry did not say where the shipment was going.
