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Keyword: opium

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  • Opium production soars in Afghanistan: UN

    01/12/2012 2:08:43 PM PST · by NormsRevenge · 7 replies
    Yahoo ^ | 1/12/12 | AFP
    Production of opium and the illicit crop's value soared in Afghanistan last year, the United Nations said in a report released Thursday. According to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, farmer income derived from Afghanistan's opium crop in 2011 was $1.4 billion (1.09 billion euros), representing nine percent of GDP. "Opium is therefore a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption," Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UN office, said in a statement. Afghanistan grows about 90 percent of the world's opium. The UN said poppy-crop cultivation covered more than...
  • Afghanistan Opium Cultivation Rises 7%

    10/11/2011 1:02:42 PM PDT · by gandalftb · 11 replies
    The Christian Science Monitor ^ | October 11, 2011 | Tom A. Peter
    After 10 years of war, Afghanistan remains the world’s leading opium supplier, responsible for 90 percent of the global supply. Opium cultivation rose by 7 percent in 2011 compared with last year. Opium production also climbed 61 percent this year. A crop blight destroyed much of Afghanistan’s opium harvest last year causing a decrease in opium production and creating a simultaneous spike in prices. Higher prices led to much speculation that more Afghan farmers would turn to the crop this year, which has indeed proved to be the case. UN officials estimate that 10 percent of opium harvest proceeds reach...
  • Fort Bragg Suspect Wanted in Second Murder, Was Growing Opium Poppies (killed councilman Melo)

    08/31/2011 6:21:28 PM PDT · by Libloather · 11 replies
    SFist ^ | 8/31/11 | Jay Barmann
    Fort Bragg Suspect Wanted in Second Murder, Was Growing Opium PoppiesBy Jay Barmann in News on August 31, 2011 2:30 PM Aaron Bassler, suspected of shooting Fort Bragg city councilman Jere Melo last Saturday, remains at large, and now his father has come forward to tell reporters that his son is schizophrenic, and that he was likely responsible for a second murder that occurred 30 miles away on August 11. James Bassler says his son had refused psychiatric treatment, and had moved into the woods after going broke four months ago. Furthermore, investigators have found two small poppy fields in...
  • Fox News Propaganda - zot file

    05/12/2011 10:54:42 AM PDT · by Suck My AR-16 · 63 replies
    May 12, 2011 | Suck My AR-16
    Let Me Push Certain Individuals Buttons Fox News will air a Oliver North special on Special Ops, probably because of the Osama bin Laden operation in Pakistan. Part of the program will cover the U.S. DEA in Afghanistan and a mission to go after the Opium drug profits used by the Taliban. The Poppy Fields of Afghanistan supply the raw materials used to make Opium. How ironic. Oliver North is one of the principals involved in Drug Running during the Iran / Contra operations in Central America. The profits from those drugs illegally funded the weapons smuggling for that war...
  • Poppy eradication in Helmand gains momentum

    08/26/2010 8:30:48 AM PDT · by gandalftb · 10 replies
    Defence News ^ | 26 Aug 10 | staff
    Helmand is the largest cultivator of poppies in Afghanistan with just under 173,000 acres of the 346,000 acres) of arable land in the province dedicated to the crop.The next largest producer is neighbouring Kandahar province with about 50,000 acres under cultivation.To promote alternative livelihoods to growing poppies the food programme last year distributed wheat seed, fertiliser and grape vines to some 65,000 farmers across Helmand.Eradication actually increased this year, up from 3,645 acres last year to 3,959 acres this year.Police supported by military and civilian mentors from the UK, seized 5,000kg of opium, 155kg of heroin and 12,000kg of precursor...
  • WSJ NEWS ALERT: Corruption Suspected in Airlift of Billions in Cash From Kabul

    06/27/2010 5:01:55 PM PDT · by Glenn · 38 replies
    WSJ Email Alert ^ | 06/27/2010
    More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad. The cash -- packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanes -- is declared and legal to move. But U.S. and Afghan officials say they are targeting the flows in major anticorruption and drug trafficking investigations because of their size relative to Afghanistan's small economy and...
  • Affluent Afghans Build Opulent 'Poppy Palaces'

    06/05/2010 10:40:34 PM PDT · by gandalftb · 2 replies · 481+ views
    WA Post ^ | Sunday, June 6, 2010 | Karin Brulliard
    KABUL -- For rent: a four-story, 11-bedroom dwelling of pink granite and lime marble, complete with massage showers, a rooftop fountain and, in the basement, an Asian-themed nightclub. Price: $12,000 a month.It's a relative bargain in Kabul's version of Beverly Hills. There's a war on, but carnival-colored mansions are mushrooming alongside cratered streets and sewage streams. Vast outdoor chandeliers, heated indoor pools and acres of mirrored, skyscraper glass windows abound. The grandiose houses, derided here as narco-tecture, have become the most obvious symbols of Afghanistan's corruption, which is fueled both by an enormous influx of U.S. dollars and by the...
  • Tractors Given to Afghan Farmers

    05/27/2010 8:58:44 AM PDT · by gandalftb · 5 replies · 250+ views
    UK Minister of Defence ^ | 26 May 10 | staff
    Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment handed out 20 new tractors to farming co-operatives in the Nad 'Ali region of Helmand province.To qualify for the equipment, the co-operatives had to show that they were willing to stop sowing poppy crops.
  • Afghanistan opium poppies hit by mysterious disease

    05/13/2010 4:13:18 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 28 replies · 713+ views
    AFP on Yahoo ^ | 5/13/10 | AFP
    KABUL (AFP) – As the pink poppy fields of southern Afghanistan yield their sticky harvest, opium production in the country that supplies the world with heroin is set to fall, farmers and officials say. That's good news for the fight against the multi-billion-dollar drugs trade but it could be bad news for Afghan farmers struggling to feed their families as the war against Taliban insurgents and drugs gangs escalates. "This year we had less poppy cultivation, which I think was because of our public awareness campaign which we launched before cultivation started," said Gul Mohammad, head of the counter-narcotics department...
  • As Afghan Opium Blight Spreads, Farmers' Lives Wilt

    05/19/2010 1:15:42 AM PDT · by Brugmansian · 28 replies · 1,009+ views
    Radio Free Europe ^ | May 18 2010 | Mohammad Elyas Daee, Abubakar Siddique
    LASHKAR GAH -- Aziz Ahmad is a deeply worried man. With two wives and seven children at home, the 30-year-old farmer depends entirely on his opium-poppy crop to make a living. This year, it's proving to be an increasingly difficult task. First, falling water tables stunted his crop. Then a mysterious blight emerged to destroy most of what remained. In a normal growing season, Ahmad's 4-hectare plot in the Washer district of Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province yields 100 kilograms of opium -- enough to cover his debts and ensure his family's survival over the winter. This year he managed to...
  • IRGC MONEY LAUNDERING OPERATION UNCOVERED IN GULF

    03/27/2010 3:08:27 AM PDT · by Cindy · 3 replies · 217+ views
    SNIPPET: "According to the report, the funds, from IRGC opium sales, reached the Bahraini minister from Colombia, eastern China, and Azerbaijan, and were transferred to Europe. According to the report, Ali Jannati, the son of senior Iranian Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati , is also involved; he is Iranian Ambassador to Kuwait."
  • US troops close Taliban escape route before attack (the vise tightens)

    02/11/2010 10:19:41 AM PST · by NormsRevenge · 51 replies · 1,619+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/11/10 | Alfred de Montesquiou and Christopher Torchia - ap
    NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan soldiers linked up with Marines on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, sealing off escape routes and setting the stage for what is being described as the biggest offensive of the nine-year war. Taliban defenders repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at units poised in foxholes along the edge of the town, apparently trying to lure NATO forces into skirmishes before the big attack. "They're trying to draw us in," said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, 30, of Tulsa, Okla., commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. Up to 1,000 militants...
  • Frightened Afghans flee offensive in opium valley

    02/08/2010 11:09:15 AM PST · by NormsRevenge · 18 replies · 789+ views
    AFP on Yahoo ^ | 2/8/10 | AFP
    LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghan men, women and children fearing imminent fighting between the Taliban and US troops, loaded up trucks on Monday and streamed out of one of the world's main sources of heroin. Wrapped in blankets to fend off the winter chill, families packed up goats, furniture and clothes, clogging roads with taxis, cars and tractors in a major exodus to safety, dodging roadside bombs planted to kill US and NATO troops. "We left the area because lots of aircraft were flying over and lots of forces were moving back and forth," Shir Ali Khan told AFP...
  • PLEASE! STOP POSTING SAME MESSAGE ON ALL BOARDS!

    08/16/2002 7:39:49 AM PDT · by Merchant Seaman · 754 replies · 30,137+ views
    Annoyed Reader
    The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!
  • Troops Uncover Opium, Weapons Caches in Afghanistan

    01/11/2010 3:39:32 PM PST · by SandRat · 5 replies · 362+ views
    WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2010 – Forces have uncovered numerous weapons caches and large amounts of narcotics during operations in Afghanistan over the past few days. Today, an international force discovered one ton of opium in the back of a vehicle during a patrol in Helmand province. The driver and two passengers were seen hiding the vehicle behind a sand dune and fled on foot. They threw an assault rifle in nearby bushes. Troops caught the men and placed them in custody. The drugs were destroyed. In other operations today: -- An international force discovered a cache of 320 large-caliber machine...
  • DEA Mourns the Loss of Three DEA Special Agents in Afghanistan

    10/27/2009 12:27:56 AM PDT · by Cindy · 25 replies · 1,343+ views
    US DOJ.gov/DEA ^ | October 26, 2009 | n/a
    Note: The following text is a quote: DEA Mourns the Loss of Three DEA Special Agents in Afghanistan OCT 26 - WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today confirmed that three Special Agents were killed during a counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan. “Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration mourns the tragic loss of three DEA Special Agents and seven U.S. service members killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan,” said Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “The incident occurred during the early morning hours of October 26, when these heroic individuals were returning from a completed, joint counternarcotics mission.”...
  • U.N. reports dramatic fall in Afghan opium production

    09/02/2009 5:57:11 PM PDT · by Pan_Yan · 4 replies · 272+ views
    CNN ^ | updated 2:03 p.m. EDT, Wed September 2, 2009 | Atia Abawi
    KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's opium production dropped dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting tactics in the country, a United Nations study found. According to the report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, production dipped by 10 percent this year, while cultivation fell by 22 percent. "At a time of pessimism about the situation in Afghanistan, these results are a welcome piece of good news and demonstrate that progress is possible," said Antonio Maria Costa, the office's executive director. The United Nations notes that drugs originating in Afghanistan have "catastrophic consequences." "They fund the activities...
  • Police bust pair after Thai opium is delivered in broomsticks to Dorris motel

    09/01/2009 3:39:41 PM PDT · by AuntB · 7 replies · 997+ views
    KTVL ^ | Sept. 1, 2009 | KTVL
    DORRIS, Calif. -- Agents from the Siskiyou County-Wide Narcotic Task Force were assisted by the California Department of Justice, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol in the service of a search warrant at the Elm Motel in Dorris, California. Drug agents learned that a shipment of opium had been intercepted by U.S. Customs en route from Thailand on its way to the Elm Motel in Dorris on Highway 97, just south of the California Oregon border. The opium had been hidden in the hollow handles of broomsticks that were mixed in with baskets and bamboo items. Drug agents...
  • Opium barons at top of kill or capture list as US targets the Taliban

    08/10/2009 3:31:44 PM PDT · by myknowledge · 22 replies · 851+ views
    Times Online ^ | August 11, 2009 | Imre Karacs
    The Pentagon has put 50 of Afghanistan’s powerful opium barons on a “kill or capture” list, signalling a radical shift in tactics against the Taleban. The announcement came as the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, admitted that the insurgency, nurtured by tens of millions of dollars from the country’s vast poppy fields, now held the upper hand. The existence of the “joint integrated prioritised target list” — a rogues’ gallery of drug lords who are earmarked for arrest or assassination — is revealed in an unpublished Senate report obtained yesterday by The Times. It was confirmed...
  • Opium addiction ravages Afghan families

    08/09/2009 10:19:51 AM PDT · by Mount Athos · 12 replies · 660+ views
    AP ^ | Rukmini Callimachi
    In dozens of mountain hamlets in this remote corner of Afghanistan, opium addiction has become so entrenched that whole families — from toddlers to old men — are addicts. From just one family years ago, at least half the people of Sarab, population 1,850, are now addicts. Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world's opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin. "I am ashamed of what I have become," says Beg, an unwashed turban curled on his head. "I've lost my self-respect. I've lost my values. I take the food from this child to pay for my opium," he says,...