Police eradicate 251 acre poppy farms in N. Afghanistan

PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, July 23 (Xinhua) — Counter-narcotics police have eradicated a total of 251 acres of poppy farms in north Afghanistan’s Baghlan province, said a statement of provincial police office on Tuesday.
The illegal crop has been destroyed during counter-narcotics operations conducted by police on the outskirts of Pul Hesar district of the province, the statement said.
Without providing more details, the statement noted that the operations will continue across the province and security forces will not allow anyone to cultivate poppy or any other illegal crops.
The Afghan caretaker government banned poppy cultivation and its processing into drugs and drug trafficking in April 2022, and since then, the administration has been fighting to eliminate the drug menace in the once poppy-growing Asian country. ■