Article

2008-10-08 India-Pakistan

9 kg heroin seized from India-Pakistan border

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Fred 2008-10-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 sadly only a tiny drop in a very large bucket

Posted by Abu do you love 2008-10-08 00:58|| 2008-10-08 00:58|| Front Page Top

#2 I wonder what the total Afghan poppy crop sells for - at the farm, before refining, distribution and marketing costs.

Posted by Glenmore 2008-10-08 07:32|| 2008-10-08 07:32|| Front Page Top

#3 poppy crop probably sells for very little compared too the final product. but when you are poor as dirt anyway it may look like a big payday.

Posted by sinse 2008-10-08 11:28|| 2008-10-08 11:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Opium Amounts to Half of Afghanistan's GDP in 2007, Reports UNODC
n its final Afghan Opium Survey for 2007 issued today, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that opium is now equivalent to more than half (53%) of the country's licit GDP. Speaking at a conference in Brussels on the future of Afghanistan, hosted by Princeton University, the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, announced that the total export value of opiates produced in and trafficked from Afghanistan in 2007 is about $4 billion, a 29 per cent increase over 2006.

Approximately one quarter of this amount ($1 billion) is earned by opium farmers. District officials take a percentage through a tax on crops (known as "ushr"). Insurgents and warlords control the business of producing and distributing the drugs. The rest is made by drug traffickers.

While opium has a significant impact on the Afghan economy, massive profits are made abroad through its export as its value increases with every border crossing. The wholesale price of a gram of heroin is, on average, $2.50 in Afghanistan, $3.50 in Pakistan and Iran, $8 in Turkey, $12 in Albania, $18 in Slovenia or Slovakia, $22 in Germany, $30 in the United Kingdom, and $33 in Russia. Retail prices can be up to ten times as high as wholesale prices, also because of "cutting" that mixes the drug with other substances.

I'm guessing the other half of GDP comes from skimming aid.

Posted by ed 2008-10-08 11:43|| 2008-10-08 11:43|| Front Page Top

#5 So for $5 billion we could give Afghanistan a 25% premium and buy their entire production, including the value of any in-country processing in addition to the farmer's value. Sounds cheaper than fighting the drug war here. Of course, the drug lords further up the chain might have something to say about it.

Posted by Glenmore 2008-10-08 12:48|| 2008-10-08 12:48|| Front Page Top

#6 the drug lords from higher up are doing something already. it's called methadone and it's legal with prescription

Posted by sinse 2008-10-08 13:59|| 2008-10-08 13:59|| Front Page Top

23:57 Betty
23:35 Procopius2k
23:30 SteveS
23:26 Old Patriot
23:21 Frank G
23:08 JosephMendiola
23:08 DMFD
23:03 Barbara Skolaut
22:54 JosephMendiola
22:47 DMFD
22:47 JosephMendiola
22:40 DMFD
22:39 DMFD
22:39 The Sanity Inspector
22:37 The Left
22:31 Frank G
22:30 DMFD
22:20 logi_cal
22:18 Sninesh Prince of the Hatfields5789
22:18 Bobby Fischer.
22:17 Tyranysaurus Snart3464
22:14 Mike N.
22:13 Mike N.
22:12 Grunter