Morning:
20°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
Pictured: RAF blow up world's biggest drugs haul worth £225 MILLION in Afghanistan desert
Last updated at 14:48pm on 12.06.08
RAF Harrier jump jets have blown up the world's biggest drug haul in Afghanistan by dropping three 1,000lb bombs on a 237-ton stash of cannabis.
The haul - worth £225million and weighing more than 30 double-decker buses - was unearthed by the Special Boat Service and local commandos.
The drugs were first stuffed into grain sacks and buried in six trenches covering an area the size of two football pitches.
Attack: Smoke pours from a bombed trench full of drugs and, below, an RAF Harrier jet
Harriers then flew over the site near Kandahar and dropped their deadly payload.
Officials believe the area - near to the Taliban stronghold of Quetta in Pakistan - was turning dried cannabis leaves into heroin.
After the attack from Kandahar airfield, troops set fire to the remains with petrol.
Mind-boggling: Inside one of six trenches concealing a record 236 tons of hash and 2.5 tons of opium
Up in flames: The third of three illegal drug caches after being hit by 1000lb bombs from RAF Harrier jump jets then set ablaze by troops
Five tons of opium, worth £2million, was also found and destroyed.
Three people were arrested.
The previous record haul was 80 tons of cocaine in Columbia in 1998.
Afghanistan's deputy Interior Minister, Lieutenant General Abdul Hadi Khalid, said yesterday: 'This is a new world record in the global war on drugs.'
Reader views (6)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Ha Ha! Maybe this was God's will no?
- Freddie Jack, USA
Wow! I bet the commandos will be high for weeks.
- Mark, London, UK
Good...but why did we need to use expensive aircraft to light the blue touch paper?
- Naomi Sajeri, Manchester
"Officials believe the area - near to the Taliban stronghold of Quetta in Pakistan - was turning dried cannabis leaves into heroin."
If that is the knowledge on the ground no wonder there is a problem.
- Stuart, UK
'...turning dried cannabis leaves into heroin' - who are these alchemists?
- Law, Margate
This is as good a reason for being in Afghanistan as any I have seen! Those drugs were NOT meant for domestic consumption, but for your streets and mine!
- Rogan, DFW Texas
