44 drug-addicted Afghans reunited with families after recovery

Kabul, Sep 28 (IANS) A total of 44 drug-addicted people have been reintegrated into their families after receiving medical treatment and recovery in the central Daykundi province, said a statement by Afghanistan's Ministry for Interior Affairs on Sunday.

"The former 44 drug-addicted persons, who were rounded up from different parts of Daykundi months ago, and rehabilitated in the 200-bed rehabilitation centre in the Central region have been reintegrated with their families recently," the Ministry said in a post on its X account.

The Afghan government, which has outlawed the cultivation of illegal crops, including opium poppy, drug production, and its trafficking, has rounded up thousands of drug-addicted persons and handed them to their families after rehabilitation over the past couple of years, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a statement released on September 24, provincial police office said that police have discovered and destroyed two drug processing labs in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan province.

Acting on a tip-off, the counter-narcotics police raided specific places in Charchino and Chori districts on September 22 and destroyed two drug processing labs, the statement said.

Police also discovered and set on fire more than 3 tonnes of different kinds of illegal objects used in manufacturing heroin, the statement added.

Police also took into custody three individuals on charges of involvement in the drug business and, after preliminary investigations, handed them over to the judiciary, the statement said.

Earlier in the drive against illegal drugs, police discovered 210 kg of opium poppy in the northern Baghlan and eastern Ghazni provinces and arrested four alleged drug smugglers.

On September 16, police unearthed a drug processing lab in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province and detained five individuals, a spokesman for the provincial police office, Ehsanullah Kamgar, said.

Acting on a tip-off, the counter-narcotics police raided a place in Darayem district and discovered the drug processing lab along with 170 kg of processed opium poppy, which was ready to turn into heroin, the official said, adding that five persons were arrested from the site.

The Afghan government has intensified its nationwide campaign against narcotics, targeting traffickers, cultivators, and production networks, with a commitment to eradicate poppy farming and heroin manufacturing.

--IANS

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