Minster of Counter Narcotic, Zarar Ahmad Muqbel on Wednesday talking at a press conference in Kabul said that all drug smugglers holding high ranks in various government and non-government departments will be arrested.
The minister said that so far small sellers of narcotics have been arrested and those who are the king pin smugglers have not been arrested. He added that the ministry has conducted an investigation to arrest dozens of dangerous smugglers.
In repeated occasions, it has been reported that cultivating, producing and trafficking of narcotics in the country have become a rich source of income for the drug mafias and the efforts of the government have not been effective in eradicating this phenomenon.
Zarar Ahmad Muqbel accepted its ministry's failure in stopping narcotics smuggling completely. At the same time the minister said that according to the new strategy it's soon going to start arresting dangerous smugglers.
"The documents that we have studied over years show that only pony narcotics sellers have been arrested. Increasing the number of arrests is the aim of the ministry. In order to meet the target we have already informed the Ministry of Interior Affairs, National Directorate of Security and all other intelligence organs to come out hard on the smugglers," Zarar Ahmad Muqbel, Minister of Counter Narcotics said.
Most of the poppy cultivations happen in Helmand, Farah and Nimroz provinces, the minster added.
The ministry emphasized that till the time there is no strong commitment in the region and in the world to fight against narcotics smuggling, Afghanistan struggling alone against this phenomenon will be useless.
"These are some failures of the Ministry and without doubt we will soon emerge victorious in no time. If we have a look at the documents that the Ministry of Interior Affairs has distributed, compared to previous years, the Counter Narcotic Department has fared well," Muqbel said.
It comes after a long time that the Ministry of Counter Narcotics mentions eradicating of poppy smuggling as one of its priorities. The ministry has said, even though the number of casualties while arresting dangerous smugglers have been very high in the past one year, it's no reason to put a step back.