Over 1,500 kg narcotics burned down in E Afghanistan

KABUL, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- As part of battle against drug, Afghan Special Counter-Narcotic Police and Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) team with U.S. embassy launched an operation and set fire on some 1,500 kg narcotics in eastern Nangarhar province Monday, said a statement of Interior Ministry.

"Some 1,000 kg of opium, 300 kg of morphine, 30 kg heroine as well as 200kg of chemical substances were found in the operation in Achin district," the statement said.

The statement quoted Mohammad Dawod Dawod deputy minister of counter-narcotics as saying that "a suspected man who believed to be a high ranking drug smuggler with two AK-47 assault rifles was arrested by police."

Police set fire on those drugs at the spot after taking some samples, it added.

According to United Nations office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), Afghanistan produced over 90 percent of world poppy cultivation in2008.

Under the new strategy, U.S. would shift the focus from poppy eradication to targeting drug trafficking and interception of chemicals.