Over 17,500 acres of poppy farms destroyed in north Afghanistan: Officials

Kabul, May 23 (IANS) The counter-narcotics police have wiped out over 17,500 acres of poppy farms in north Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province in the past one month, officials have said. The law enforcement towards these illicit crops was conducted in parts of Baharak, Darayem, Teshkan, Yamgan, Yeftal Payan, Kashm, Juram, and Argo districts, as well as provincial capital Faizabad city, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued by the provincial police on Wednesday.Meanwhile, the Afghan police have also destroyed two drug processing labs and arrested 10 people on the charge of involvement in illicit drug business in the provinces of Nimroz, Balkh and Helmand, the Ministry of Interior Affairs reported on Wednesday.Poppy cultivation in the war-ravaged country had fallen by 95 per cent, according to figures released by the United Nations in 2023. The Afghan caretaker government banned the cultivation of opium poppy and the trade of opium in Afghanistan in April 2022.–IANSint/as/sha