Afghan heroin traffic to Russia still high, official says

PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of Russia’s drug enforcement agency has lamented that Afghan heroin traffic to Russia are still high, RIA Novosti reported

“I cannot say that Afghan heroin traffic to Russia has been reduced over the past 10 years because heroin production is not being terminated but on the contrary is unfolding,” Viktor Ivanov, who leads Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service, said.

Ivanov said his agency has been discovering “more and more laboratories that produce and send drugs in the direction of Russia.” He explained that most labs are located in Afghanistan’s north. The Russian drug enforcement chief said 4,000-8,000 metric tons of opium is produced in Afghanistan annually, adding that the tremendous amount is too hard to sell in that country, which is why is “is supplied to remote markets, one of which is Russia.”

“The second largest market is the EU,” Ivanov said. “It is evident that the problem can only be solved when Afghanistan stops producing drugs in such tremendous amounts.”

He said the total drug production in Afghanistan is worth over $100 billion, which, he said, is just a "modest" estimate.