LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The counter-narcotics police burned 7.5 tons of illicit drugs in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province on Monday, provincial police spokesman Mullah Ezatullah Haqqani said Tuesday.
The contraband, which included opium poppy, hashish and objects used in manufacturing heroin, had been collected over the past five months during a series of operations from the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and several districts, and were set on fire on Monday, the official added.
Police have also arrested 145 individuals on charge of involvement in the illegal business of drug production and drug trafficking, the official said.
The Afghan interim government, which has outlawed poppy cultivation, drug production and drug trafficking, has vowed to fight the drug menace until the once poppy-growing Afghanistan becomes a drug-free nation. ■
