Drug dealer caught with top Afghan official protection letter

Kabul, Mar 22 (ANI): A specially trained unit of Afghanistan Police conducted a nearly perfect ambush of a drug dealer on the road between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad, but were surprised to find a signed letter of protection from their boss.

Officers surrounded Sayyed Jan's vehicle so quickly that his two bodyguards never had a chance to fire their weapons, and he was caught moving at least 183 kilograms of pure heroin, Globe and Mail reported.

But the counter narcotics Police of Afghanistan realized they had a problem when they discovered that Jan's powerful friends included their own boss.

The drug dealer was carrying a signed letter of protection from General Mohammed Daud, the Deputy Minister of Interior responsible for counter narcotics, widely considered Afghanistan's most powerful anti-drug czar.

That document, along with other papers and interviews with well-placed sources, show that General Daud has safeguarded shipments of illegal opiates even as he commands thousands of officers sworn to fight the trade.

Some accuse the Deputy Minister of taking a major cut of dealers' profits, ranking him among the biggest players in Afghanistan's 3-billion dollars drug industry.

General Daud has been responsible for the CNPA since his presidential appointment as deputy minister for Counternarcotics in 2004, and the force has grown to an estimated 3,000 drug officers across the country. But the documents and case studies gathered by The Globe and Mail paint a disturbing portrait of his role in the industry.

"You have chosen a wolf as your shepherd," said an Afghan police officer who worked with General Daud. (ANI)