1TV: The United States is considering to release Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan heroin kingpin, who is imprisoned since 2005, it has been reported. Noorzai was given a life sentence in 2009 after being convicted of conspiring to import heroin into the US and conspiring to distribute it. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: In Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province, more children are working in the poppy fields and selling opium after schools were shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CoinDesk: Blockchain startup Fantom has been given the green light to start tracking medicinal drugs in Afghanistan to help stem the country’s counterfeiting problem. After a signing ceremony with the Afghan Ministry of Health and several pharmaceutical distributors last month, the startup has unveiled details of its Smart Medicine pilot project. The project aims to
1TV: A top Russian diplomat has accused US intelligence officers of involvement in trafficking of drug from Afghanistan. “Those wonderful US intelligence officers, who accuse us of different things, are involved in drug trafficking. Their planes from Kandahar, from Bagram [airfield near Kabul] are flying wherever they want to – to Germany, to Romania –
Ariana: Twenty-eight Coronavirus patients have died in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement. Meanwhile, 319 new confirmed cases have been registered in the past 24 hours. The Health Ministry said that the total affected people reached to 31,836 in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link). Related
Al Jazeera: Nine people were killed last week by unknown gunmen in Afghan capital but residents deny they were drug addicts. The media reports of the slayings of drug addicts by unknown gunmen led to a litany of rumours and conspiracies across the city. Some Kabulis feared that the men may have been connected to
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 16, 2020 Gunmen have shot dead nine homeless drug users in the Afghan capital, officials said on February 16. The incident took place late on February 15 in a cave on the outskirts of Kabul near the Koh-e Qurugh mountain, police spokesman Faramarz Tamanna told dpa. One addict was found
1TV: In a statement on results of its annual estimate of Afghanistan opium, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said output of opium made from poppy seeds in Afghanistan stood at around 6,700 metric tons last year. That was compared with 5,500 metric tons in 2018. Click here to read more (external
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan: A settlement in western Afghanistan has become known as the “village of widows.” Some 50 women in the village of Mir Ali in Herat Province’s Adraskan district have lost their husbands, with many killed or executed after smuggling drugs across the Iranian border. Click here for more (external link).
Tolo News: Figures by the Ministry of Public Health reveal that Afghanistan has more than 2.5 million illicit drug users, and at least 500,000 of them are addicts. An official at the ministry said the capacity of rehabilitation centers countrywide has increased to over 40,000 patients, from 2,000 five years ago. The official said that in