Afghan drug seizures in May (AFP)
30 October 2005 -- Afghanistan said today it has destroyed 30 opium-processing laboratories and tons of drugs and chemicals used to make heroin.
The Interior Ministry said today that a police narcotics force had destroyed the drugs and equipment in a four-day operation in eastern Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan.
The ministry said the force also destroyed over 4,000 kilograms of opiates and 5,000 kilograms of chemicals used to process opium into heroin.
Afghanistan produces about 87 percent of the world's opium, most of which ends up as heroin on the streets of Europe. The illegal export of the crop makes up about half of the country's gross domestic product.
The government has launched various programs to eradicate fields of poppies used to make heroin.
(AFP)