18 drug traffickers detained in Afghanistan

Eighteen suspected drug traffickers have been arrested by Afghan law enforcement agencies over the past week, authorities said on Monday.

"Counter-Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) have captured 18 persons involved in trafficking of drugs and narcotics in Kabul, Nangarhar and Baghlan provinces within the past seven days," the Counter-Narcotics Criminal Justice Task Force of Afghanistan (CJTF) said in a statement.

Among the captured people was one woman.

The CNPA also seized from detainees 9 kg of heroin, 10 kg of morphine, 651 kg of hashish, beside confiscating four rounds of weapons with over 400 bullets, 22 mobile phones and six vehicles, the statement said.

Much of the world's opium poppy is cultivated in the militancy-hit country.

In 2016, some 4,800 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan particularly in western and southern parts of the country, where the government security forces have little presence, according to official figures. Enditem