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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
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DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids
#13402392 - 10/28/10 05:49 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids October 28, 2010 - Washington Times
More than $60 million worth of heroin was seized by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, along with U.S. military forces and Afghan and Russia law enforcement officers, during raids on four "clandestine drug labs" in northeastern Afghanistan, senior DEA officials said Thursday.
Three heroin labs and a morphine conversion facility in the Achin District of Nangarhar Province were targeted as a part of "Operation Tar Pit," during which more than a ton of opium and heroin, along with the equipment, components and chemicals used to manufacture the drug, were confiscated.
The labs were described by senior DEA officials as a major center of opium production in Afghanistan, adding that the raids were aimed at disrupting heroin production in the province; seizing narcotics, lab equipment and precursor chemicals; and instilling confidence in the local populace regarding the effectiveness of Afghan counternarcotics forces.
Senior DEA officials also said the operation was designed to produce "future intelligence-directed interdiction" efforts and create a "credible perception of risk" within the drug trade.
Acting on intelligence, the senior DEA officials said the multinational task force was able to identify a major clandestine heroin laboratory in the Zerasari Village of the Achin District. Upon arrival at the site, agents discovered the three additional labs hidden by vegetation. One of those labs turned out to be used for converting morphine.
Although all four sites were abandoned at the time of the operation, the senior officials said evidence collected confirmed that all of the labs were actively producing heroin and morphine.
In addition to 2,050 pounds of heroin and 340 pounds of opium seized, the officials said the agents also seized 22 pounds of acetic anhydride, 30 pounds of ammonium chloride, 22 pounds of soda ash, 88 pounds of charcoal, two mechanical heroin presses, three metal industrial cooking vats and 500 feet of plastic irrigation.
Last year, three DEA agents and seven U.S. military service members assigned in Afghanistan died in a crash of a U.S. military CH-47 helicopter after a successful narcotics/counter insurgency operation in that country's rugged Badghis Province. The agents were Michael E. Weston, Forrest N. Leamon and Chad L. Michael.
They had executed search warrants at a Afghan bazaar that had become a safe haven for insurgents and contained significant quantities of narcotics, improvised explosive devices and weapons used against Coalition Forces. After a successful operation that included an hour-long firefight with insurgents, the agents died when their helicopter crashed as they were leaving the area.
Afghanistan has long been the largest producer of opium and heroin in the world, with profits from its illicit trade worldwide being a major part of funding for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Earlier this year, the State Department reported that Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's supply of opium, Nangarhar Province, whose capital city of Jalalabad, has more than 1.3 million residents and has long been a source of opium and heroin. Last month, an Afghan National Security and International Security Assistance Force strike force raided a drug lab in Achin district, finding 20 kilograms of packaged heroin, 30 kilograms of hashish, 180 liters of a chemical used to process heroin and associated equipment.
In a separate instance, a joint ANS/ISAF patrol seized 1,500 kilograms of processed opium, 500 kilograms of raw opium and approximately 60 pieces of drug-processing equipment. One suspected insurgent was detained during that operation.
The senior DEA officials said the investigation into the drug trafficking organization responsible for operating the clandestine heroin labs is ongoing.
In addition to the DEA, those taking part in the raid were agents from the Defense Department, NATO, the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior and the Russian drug control agency. The Soviet Union withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in 1989, but the Russian government has become increasingly involved in drug control operations in the country.
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bryguy27007
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Registered: 01/26/08
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13403202 - 10/28/10 08:30 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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That's a lot of heroin. What are Afghanistan's laws concerning opium/heroin?
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CycleThoughts
Researcher


Registered: 08/03/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: bryguy27007]
#13403230 - 10/28/10 08:36 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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60 million, heh. That's like $300,000 worth of Afghani opium. Think of the trade deficits.
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bleh
regretful noob

Registered: 06/14/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: CycleThoughts]
#13404144 - 10/28/10 11:54 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I can't imagine what it would be like to work at that level of the drug trade
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Roy G. Biv

Registered: 04/04/10
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Loc: Bifrost
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13411542 - 10/30/10 06:15 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Wait wait. This is ridiculous since it has been reported our own military, the marines, are over there protecting the opium fields and helping the farmers grow it.
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13417626 - 11/01/10 11:00 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Karzai denounces drug raid in Afghanistan October 31, 2010 - Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday denounced a large-scale drug raid in which U.S. forces and Russian drug agents took part, calling it a violation of Afghan sovereignty.
The outburst marked the latest in a series of tense confrontations between the Afghan leader and his Western backers.
It also signaled a degree of disarray within the Karzai administration, because Afghan counter-narcotics police took part in the operation, playing what U.S. officials described as the lead role.
On Friday, Russian officials and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration disclosed the raid, which took place earlier in the week in Nangarhar province, near the border with Pakistan. The strike targeted major opium and heroin production facilities, and millions of dollars' worth of drugs were destroyed, they said.
Karzai's office issued a harshly worded statement in response, describing his government as "committed to joint efforts with [the] international community against narcotics" but condemning the raid as a "blatant violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty."
"Any repetition of such acts will prompt necessary reaction by our country," the presidential palace warned.
Karzai's office said the ministries of interior and defense had been ordered to investigate the circumstances of the drug raid and report back to him.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the raid was led by the Afghan Interior Ministry's Counter-Narcotics Police Sensitive Investigative Unit and the National Interdiction Unit. At times, however, Western officials have described operations in which Afghan forces appeared to play a secondary role as "Afghan-led."
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Zemari Bashary, did not return calls seeking comment.
The incident was reminiscent of a raid carried out in July by Afghan authorities with U.S. backing, which targeted a Karzai aide accused of corruption. The president swiftly ordered his aide freed and moved to limit the powers of the two anti-corruption task forces in question.
In the past, U.S. officials have suggested that the lucrative drug trade in Nangarhar, part of a complex web of organized crime, bears hallmarks of complicity by some local government figures.
Also Saturday, a large band of insurgents tried to overrun a remote U.S. combat outpost in Paktika province, in eastern Afghanistan. The onslaught was beaten back with airstrikes that left dozens of the attackers dead, the Western military said. Five of the defenders were wounded but continued fighting, the NATO force said.
The scale and ferocity of the attack bore a striking similarity to past assaults on other remote eastern outposts that exacted a heavy toll on American forces. In one, in July 2008 in Kunar province, nine U.S. troops were killed; in another, in October 2009 in Nuristan province, eight American troops died.
Insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked the base in Paktika's Barmal district "from all directions" at about 1:30 a.m., setting off a clash that lasted several hours, Western military officials said. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization force said about 40 attackers were believed to have been killed, but a provincial spokesman, Mukhlis Afghan, put the number as high as 80.
Most of the 100,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan are deployed in the country's south, where military officials say they have successfully driven the Taliban from key districts surrounding the city of Kandahar in recent weeks. At the same time, however, the insurgency has flared in other parts of the country, including the once-quiet north.
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SuperD
Cacti junky


Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13417644 - 11/01/10 11:07 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
"Any repetition of such acts will prompt necessary reaction by our country," the presidential palace warned.
Fuck yeah! A president with some BALLS. Obama, are you taking notes?
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   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: SuperD]
#13417716 - 11/01/10 11:29 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Keep in mind also that Karzai has been reported to be fond of opium himself and makes a ton of money from it. His brother has been reported for years to be involved in the heroin trade, some calling him the world's biggest supplier.
It is in the best interest of President Karzai to keep opium and heroin production high. Keep in mind prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan opium production was banned, now Afghanistan produces 95% of the world's supply.
The US has no business being in Afghanistan. We should close up shop and bring our men and women home out of harms way.
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Run
Questioning my existance


Registered: 10/22/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418031 - 11/01/10 01:01 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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AQuote:
veggie said: Keep in mind also that Karzai has been reported to be fond of opium himself and makes a ton of money from it. His brother has been reported for years to be involved in the heroin trade, some calling him the world's biggest supplier.
It is in the best interest of President Karzai to keep opium and heroin production high. Keep in mind prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan opium production was banned, now Afghanistan produces 95% of the world's supply.
The US has no business being in Afghanistan. We should close up shop and bring our men and women home out of harms way.
Agreed
-------------------- You, me, this point in existence is undeniably so unique, we take everything for granite ,life , comprehension, feelings, thought, so accustomed to understanding that we've lost the meaning of fully understanding who we are..... we are the extra terrestrial, we are the unknown, we are the mystical...
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CycleThoughts
Researcher


Registered: 08/03/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418156 - 11/01/10 01:29 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said: Keep in mind also that Karzai has been reported to be fond of opium himself and makes a ton of money from it. His brother has been reported for years to be involved in the heroin trade, some calling him the world's biggest supplier.
It is in the best interest of President Karzai to keep opium and heroin production high. Keep in mind prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan opium production was banned, now Afghanistan produces 95% of the world's supply.
The US has no business being in Afghanistan. We should close up shop and bring our men and women home out of harms way.
How do you go from banned to 95% of the worlds production? Was there a HUGE increase in demand or a HUGE decrease in supply? I don't buy that figure. Afghanistan is pretty lawless, I'm sure opium was grown regardless.
As for the US and their actions, it blows my mind the DEA is fighting it's war on drugs in another sovereign nation. Burning down crops in an impoverished nation because OUR culture doesn't like what they're growing. Imagine if 3rd world countries came to the US and bombed weapons factories in their war on guns. Or if they bombed Budweiser factories because they felt alcohol was causing problems in their country.
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: CycleThoughts]
#13418336 - 11/01/10 02:11 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
How do you go from banned to 95% of the worlds production? Was there a HUGE increase in demand or a HUGE decrease in supply? I don't buy that figure. Afghanistan is pretty lawless, I'm sure opium was grown regardless.
As implausible as that sounds, going from almost no production in 2000 (as opium was deemed unIslamic by the Taliban) to supplying the world after the 2001 invasion by the US, that is exactly what happened. It wasn't that there was an increase in demand, that was already high due to Prohibition, it's that Afghanistan just took advantage of the high demand and resumed production, just as they did when the Soviets invaded, in order to finance terrorist activities and the war against the US. Anyone who supports the war on drugs is in fact helping to support terrorists who are out to kill us.
The US also has been playing both ends, having a war on terror and a war on drugs which finances the terrorists. It was last April, as I recall, the US called a suspension to the hostilities so as not to disrupt the opium harvest. After the opium harvest was completed the Taliban resumed the war and the US suffered serious casualties.
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SuperD
Cacti junky


Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418348 - 11/01/10 02:14 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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All good points, Veg. It amazes me all this occurs right under the noses of many uninformed Americans. Crazy world we live in.
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   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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CycleThoughts
Researcher


Registered: 08/03/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418395 - 11/01/10 02:23 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
Quote:
How do you go from banned to 95% of the worlds production? Was there a HUGE increase in demand or a HUGE decrease in supply? I don't buy that figure. Afghanistan is pretty lawless, I'm sure opium was grown regardless.
As implausible as that sounds, going from almost no production in 2000 (as opium was deemed unIslamic by the Taliban) to supplying the world after the 2001 invasion by the US, that is exactly what happened. It wasn't that there was an increase in demand, that was already high due to Prohibition, it's that Afghanistan just took advantage of the high demand and resumed production, just as they did when the Soviets invaded, in order to finance terrorist activities and the war against the US. Anyone who supports the war on drugs is in fact helping to support terrorists who are out to kill us.
The US also has been playing both ends, having a war on terror and a war on drugs which finances the terrorists. It was last April, as I recall, the US called a suspension to the hostilities so as not to disrupt the opium harvest. After the opium harvest was completed the Taliban resumed the war and the US suffered serious casualties.
But how do they go to 95%? Who's producing the other 5% that was once the entire worlds heroin production? Or has Afghan taken over 95% and reduced the former producers down to 5% of their original output? It doesn't add up.
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: CycleThoughts]
#13418465 - 11/01/10 02:40 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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It all adds up. Before Afghanistan it was the 'Golden Triangle' that produced the majority of the world's opium. The triangle region being Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Burma (now Myanmar) has been increasing production recently. Mexico, and others, also produce opium. If somehow Afghanistan stops growing opium someone else will pick up the slack.
It's like the cocaine industry. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia are the main producers but the percentages from each country change all the time.
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CycleThoughts
Researcher


Registered: 08/03/09
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418481 - 11/01/10 02:45 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said: It all adds up. Before Afghanistan it was the 'Golden Triangle' that produced the majority of the world's opium. The triangle region being Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Burma (now Myanmar) has been increasing production recently. Mexico, and others, also produce opium. If somehow Afghanistan stops growing opium someone else will pick up the slack.
If Afghan stops, someone needs to pickup the 95% of the world production. So what happened to the 95% Afghan stole in 2001? Did the golden triangle start producing 95% less heroin?
Say the GT made 100 Heroin a year. Now Afghan does 95% of the world heroin.
So does Afghan now provide 95 and the GT provide 5, or did the GT maintain their 100 and Afghan produces 1900?
I didn't label my numbers because it's unnecessary, I'm just trying to figure out of the production shifted to Afghan, or if Afghan started producing 19 times what the world was producing prior to 2001.
Do you understand what I'm trying to understand?
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: CycleThoughts]
#13418787 - 11/01/10 03:53 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I do understand your question. Demand will fluctuate, Supply will fluctuate. The 100% does not fluctuate. You can't have more than 100%. Think of it as a classic pie chart. The pie is 100% and the slices of the pie vary in size. Capisce?
The point is though that the Taliban ramped of production of opium and heroin to finance the war against the US. All of this product goes to fill the demand of the illegal market because that is where the money is. That is where the money is because of the war on drugs. We have a war on drugs and a war on terror. Conceivably you could have one or the other. You cannot have both. The irony of course is that you end the war on drugs, ending the financing of our enemies, the war on terror ends. No terrorists, no war.
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CycleThoughts
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Re: DEA seizes $60 million of heroin in raids [Re: veggie]
#13418794 - 11/01/10 03:55 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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So then what do you think it is? Afghan produced 19 times the original 100%, or the production shifted? I can't imagine it shifted.
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