Drug Bust Linked to Taliban Trafficking Ring

(Seoul, South Korea) A raid on a drug-trafficking ring earlier today by South Korean police resulted in the arrest of Afghan and Pakistani traffickers believed to be linked to the Taliban.

Police said two Afghans, three Pakistanis and four Koreans tried to use South Korea as a shipping point for several tons of acetic anhydride destined for southern Afghanistan.

The chemical is heated with morphine, extracted from opium, to produce heroin.

‘The key Afghan suspect admitted he did it at the instigation of the Taleban,’ Oh Ki-Duk, an investigator, told AFP. ‘But he claimed he is not a member of the Taleban.’

Police confiscated 12 tons of acetic anhydride in a chemical engineering factory in the Seoul suburb of Ansan and arrested the two Afghans. The chemical was disguised as motor oil.

In a separate operation by the three Pakistanis -- who were also arrested in a Seoul suburb -- police said about 50 tons of the chemical had already been shipped, labelled as disinfectant.

It was sent between April 2007 and March this year.

Since the chemical is needed for heroin production, one must wonder why it took so long to identify where it was coming from. Apparently, it's supplied by Japanese producers through South Korea to Afghanistan.

Also: Jawa Report