Thursday, January 13th 2011 4:05 PM
Karbala Jan. 13 (AKnews) – The director of the Drug Control office in Karbala refuted on Thursday media reports suggesting the presence of opiate poppy and marijuana cultivation in the province.
Maj. Raad Saadoun al-Safi told AKnews that the reports were false; adding that a comprehensive study had been conducted of agricultural lands in the province and the neighboring regions of Babel, Najaf and Diwaniya, without finding any traces of such cultivation.
Recent media reports suggested that narcotics form hidden plantations in Karbala were being smuggled across the border into Iran.
The narcotics currently found circulating in the region, Safi said, were prescription drugs sold illegally in pharmaceutical warehouses and local chemists.
A man from Baghdad was recently arrested trying to distribute prescription sleeping pills in Karbala. The 19,000 pills found on his person were duly confiscated.
Safi went on to say that two people were arrested in 2007 trying to smuggle two kilograms of hashish into Karbala. They were subsequently tried and sentenced to life in prison. Two other people also received life sentences in 2008 when they attempted to distribute opium in the city.
The Karbala official said that there had been no other incidents of serious drug-trafficking since.
Reported by Hasoon al-Haffar
Sa/Ka/AKnews
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/3/210209/?AKmobile=true
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