MOSCOW. ( RIA Novosti political commentator...
heroin from one ton of raw opium.Maria Costa said that more than 10,000 tons of this anhydride was brought to Afghanistan last year to produce heroin from the 4,000 tons of raw opium harvested. This was a real caravan of more than 500 twenty-ton trailers.
The acetic acid anhydride is not made in Afghanistan, and is only available in China, India, and Russia. It is a real mystery how such caravans can remain unnoticed in Afghanistan with its poor road network, or in approaches to it.
In early July the Afghan authorities were compelled to admit their inability to counter illegal drug production. Late last year they adopted a new law on countering drug production, and set up a whole ministry for this purpose, but all was in vain.
It is hard to say how to resolve this problem. A regional UNODC representative for Central Asia said that the transit of drugs does not go down despite the efforts of Central Asian governments to reduce it.