Pubdate: Tue, 26 Apr 2005
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2005 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Tom Hays, Associated Press Writer

U.S. ARRESTS REPUTED AFGHAN DRUG LORD

NEW YORK -- A reputed Afghan drug lord who officials accused of
smuggling $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and
operating his network with the protection of the Taliban is now in a
New York jail.

Bashir Noorzai, who was on the U.S. list of most-wanted drug kingpins,
was ordered held without bail at his initial court appearance Monday.
If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

An indictment alleges that between 1990 and 2004 Noorzai and his
organization "provided demolitions, weapons and manpower to the
Taliban," U.S. Attorney David Kelley said. "In exchange, the Taliban
allowed Noorzai's business to flourish."

The full circumstances of Noorzai's capture were not made public.
Prosecutor Boyd Johnson told a judge that Drug Enforcement
Administration agents arrested the defendant over the weekend in New
York.

In Afghanistan, Gen. Zaher Akbar, head of a U.S.-funded Afghan police
unit charged with destroying Afghan opium crops, said Afghan
authorities "appreciate the arrest of drug smugglers anywhere in the
world, so long as there is proof against them and they are not just
released the next day."

Noorzai, 44, wearing a full beard and a dark blue polo shirt, remained
silent during the brief hearing. He was given a court-appointed
attorney, David Greenfield, who declined to comment outside court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Boyd Johnson told a judge that Drug
Enforcement Administration agents arrested the defendant at about
12:30 p.m. Saturday in New York. It was not clear why he would risk
traveling to New York.

The Taliban protected Noorzai's opium crops, its heroin laboratories
in Afghanistan and Pakistan and its drug transportation routes out of
the country and into markets in Europe and the United States,
prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say the smuggling attempt involved about 1,100 pounds of
heroin. Kelley said that between 1990 and 2004, the defendant and his
organization "provided demolitions, weapons and manpower to the Taliban."

Last year, the White House added Noorzai and nine other people and
organizations to the list of most wanted drug lords. The White House
gave Noorzai's name as Haji Bashir Noorzai.

According to the indictment, Noorzai, developed a partnership in the
1990s with Mullah Muhammad Omar, the longtime leader of the Taliban.
At one point in 1997, when the Taliban governed Afghanistan, its
authorities seized a truckload of morphine base from Noorzai.

The Taliban returned the shipment with "personal apologies" from
Mullah Omar, the indictment said.

The Taliban militia had ruled Afghanistan until it was toppled by the
United States in late 2001. Taliban-led militants are still operating
along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border with Pakistan.

Kelley refused to comment on reports that the defendant has ties to
the al-Qaida terrorist network. "It's not something that's part of the
case," Kelley said.
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