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Afghan police commander jailed for having 40 tonnes of hashish
 An Afghan court sentenced a border police official to 20 years in prison for possessing 40 tonnes of hashish, the tribunal said on Wednesday. The 37-year-old lieutenant colonel was convicted in Kabul on Tuesday, said the Criminal Justice Task Force, a special tribunal that tries drugs-related cases. The man, identified as the commander of the quick reaction battalion of border police in the southern province of Kandahar was arrested in June after drugs were found in his home, the tribunal spokesman, Khalil-Ul Rahman Mutawakil said. "The said person was sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined two million afghanis (40,000 dollars) for possessing 40 tonnes of hashish," the court said. Four other men described as "his accomplices" were also convicted. One was sentenced to 20 years and the others to five years in prison. Destitute Afghanistan is a major producer of the world's illicit drugs. It is the source of around 90 percent of the world's opium, used to make the heroin sold on the streets of Europe and central Asia, with profits helping to bankroll the Taliban in an eight-year insurgency.Posted by: Fred 2009-11-26 |
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