UK customs officers join drugs fight

The battle against drugs in Afghanistan is being stepped up through a training programme being made available to the Afghan Police Academy by experienced British customs officers. "The fight against the illegal drug trade is an international responsibility, because the impact of drugs on society is immense. Our aim is to assist the Afghan police with practical measures that will help trace those involved in drug trafficking, and ensure proper systems are in place to take action against them," Ronald Nash, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, told IRIN on Thursday at a ceremony marking the inauguration of the programme. A UN crop survey published in October estimated that 3,400 mt of opium would be produced in Afghanistan this year - higher than the 2,700 mt predicted by the UN earlier this year. This is nearly double the 2,000 mt harvested before the Taliban banned production. The survey shows that Afghanistan is set to resume its place as the source of 75 percent of the world's heroin and 90 percent of Britain's supply. The pilot training programme was launched by Afghan Interior Minister Taj Mohammad Wardak along with four London-based officers from the Law Enforcement Directorate of Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise. The trainees will form the core of a new drug law enforcement department of the Afghan national police. The new drug squad have a massive problem to tackle. In January, President Hamid Karzai's government announced a ban on opium poppy cultivation, trafficking and abuse. But the new UN figures show that the eradication programme has had little impact, despite cash incentives offered to some farmers to grow other crops. The absence of the usual harvest in the spring of 2001 pushed up opium prices to unprecedented levels, creating a powerful incentive for farmers to plant the 2002 crop. "So long as we have trained and educated police, we will succeed in the fight against all criminal and security problems," Wardak told IRIN. Given the huge sums to be made from Afghan heroin, he appealed for international funding for salaries to enable the new squad to remain free from corruption. The training will focus on both national and international aspects of drug law enforcement. The aim is to teach the Afghans surveillance and search techniques, as well as information collation, evidence gathering and record keeping. The course will also provide up-to-date information on drug trafficking and trends, and help with the identification of drugs. Nash added that the first course to train 16 recruits would be a pilot project signalling the start of a British commitment that would last for "years". John Chelchowski, the embassy first secretary, said the scheme would allow British officers to be directly involved in tackling drugs in Afghanistan, thereby to prevent so much of them reaching the streets of Britain.