Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Mystery of the Missing Opium

Strange Report by Mark Easton on Afghan Opium

Weird stuff. The sum total of heroin used by addicts is 3,500 tonnes. But Afghanistan produces 7,700 tonnes a year. It is not going to make medicinal morphine, because that is produced in India and Turkey under license.

Mark's piece, and subsequent comment, discuss possible explanations for this odd discrepancy.

It looks as if somebody is stockpiling it.

If some Bond-like action person wants to go and solve this mystery, take my advice: take along a sniffer dog. Fly a search pattern over the terrain, as low as you dare, and note when the dog reacts, because stockpile as big as that are going to be releasing odourants big time on a warm day. Oh, and wear a bullet proof jacket at all times.

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