DEA: Drug raids in Afghanistan net $56 million worth of heroin

By Jeanne Meserve, CNN Homeland Security Correspondent
October 28, 2010 3:11 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- Almost $56 million worth of high-quality heroin has been seized in a series of drug busts in Afghanistan, according to senior Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

The operation in Nangarhar Province was jointly conducted by the DEA, the Department of Defense, NATO, the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior and the Russian drug control agency.

Raids Thursday morning disrupted four clandestine laboratories associated with a significant narcotics trafficker in the province. Approximately one metric ton of heroin was seized, along with a smaller quantity of opium and items used in drug production, authorities said.

The Soviet Union withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in 1989, but a senior DEA official says the Russian government is increasingly involved in drug control operations in the country

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