Taliban treats heroin stocks like savings accounts: WikiLeaks

The opium allegedly withheld by insurgents was worth around USD 1.25 billion. Each tonne of opium is said to be worth around USD 100,000 and can be used to produce 100 kg of heroin,the Guardian reported.

The US cable appears to show that the UN believed that the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan were well- organised,aware of the market and focused on maintaining a viable price for the drug,it said.

Costa’s claims,reported in a confidential document,were expressed at a meeting on 18 September 2009,the Guardian said,quoting the US cable leaked by WikiLeaks.

Afghanistan is the world’s biggest exporter of heroin and opium most of which is grown in Helmand province.

Under the heading “Opium Stocks Remain High”,the cable states: “Costa said that Afghanistan has 12,400 tonnes of opium stocks because it produces more than the world consumes.

Costa believes that the insurgency is withholding these stocks from the market and treating them like ‘savings accounts’.

He said the stocks pose a serious threat as it could be used to finance the insurgency. Costa encourage intelligence organisations to to keep focus on the storage and movement of Afghanistan’s opium stocks.”

Costa’s reported opinion was not part of the UN’s final 2009 Afghanistan Survey.

According to the cable,opium trends were positive overall and showcased a major decline in opium cultivation by 22 per cent in 2009,the lowest in 15 years.

“Costa said that even though Afghanistan was among the most impoverished countries in the world poverty was not the main factor. Costa said abandoning opium cultivation dies not produce humanitarian crisis.”

He said market forces caused a shift in opium prices and could easily influence farmers to grow illicit crops if high market prices and revenue could be gained from them.

Costa,head of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) retired earlier this year. He prompted an international debate when he claimed billions dollars of laundered drug money from organised crime had been used to prop up many of the world’s major financial institutions during the financial downturn.

A spokesman for UNODC declined to comment on the report.