Pubdate: Thu, 21 Feb 2002
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Jason Bennetto

BRITAIN IS BRACED FOR INFLUX OF CUT-PRICE HEROIN

Britain is bracing itself for a flood of cheap heroin after intelligence 
sources warned that farmers in Afghanistan would produce a bumper crop of 
opium in the next few months.

Agents in Afghanistan have told the British authorities to expect a harvest 
of about 4,600 tons of raw opium, The Independent has learnt.

Customs and Excise, the security services, MI6 and MI5, and the police are 
concerned at the likely consequences of a huge opium crop because 
Afghanistan is the main supplier of heroin to Britain.

Officers are already struggling to contain heroin coming to the United 
Kingdom . The drug is used by about 300,000 people and worth an estimated 
UKP2.3bn a year.

Drug traffickers in Britain have been cashing in on the conflict in 
Afghanistan by charging a "war premium" they say is necessary because 
supplies are scarce.

But new intelligence suggests that drug barons in Afghanistan are about to 
obtain a huge boost to their stocks. With the defeat of the Taliban regime, 
who banned the cultivation of opium poppies, growers in Afghanistan have 
been returning to the cash harvest.

A law enforcement source said: "The replanting in Afghanistan is of 
sufficient order that it could produce a second bumper crop similar to the 
1998-99 harvest." He said farmers had been returning to growing poppies 
since the middle of November when they realised the Taliban were likely to 
be overthrown.

About 10kg of opium is used to produce 1kg of heroin. With the cut in 
supplies from Afghanistan, the price of a kilogram of raw opium rose from 
$30 (UKP21) in 2000, before it was banned by the Taliban, to $700 (UKP490) 
in September last year.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth