COLOMBIA is taking additional security measures to ensure it will not become a transit point for heroin from Afghanistan destined for users in the United States, a police official said on Monday. ”It is possible that narcotraffickers could use existing smuggling routes to try to bring heroin from Afghanistan to Mexico and the United States. That’s why we are intensifying our surveillance of airports and ports to stop it,” General Alfredo Salgado said. Colombian authorities have expressed concerns that the US-led war on terrorism and actions in Afghanistan could lead to increased demand for illegal drugs and alliances between Colombian and Afghan producers. Colombia is the world’s leading producer of cocaine with 580 tonnes per year, three-quarters of which is bound for the United States, and is also an important supplier of heroin to US users. Afghanistan is one of the major producers of heroin in central Asia. – Sapa-AFP
Sunday October 21, 2001