'', The Independent, 29 April 2008

EXCERPT: "The heroin flooding Britain's streets is threatening the lives of UK troops in Afghanistan, an Independent investigation can reveal. Russian gangsters who smuggle drugs into Britain are buying cheap heroin from Afghanistan and paying for it with guns. Smugglers told The Independent how Russian arms dealers meet Taliban drug lords at a bazaar near the old Afghan-Soviet border, deep in Tajikistan's desert. The bazaar exists solely to trade Afghan drugs for Russian guns ? and sometimes a bit of sex on the side. The drugs are destined for Britain's streets. The guns go straight to the Taliban front line. The weapons on sale include machine guns, sniper rifles and anti-aircraft weapons like the ones used in the attempt to assassinate the Afghan President Hamid Karzai last weekend. 'We never sell the drugs for money,' boasted one of the smugglers. 'We exchange them for ammunition and Kalashnikovs.'"

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See also:
'Hamburger Hill: Frontline base in a sea of poppies British soldiers dare not clear', The Guardian, 29 April 2008
'18 die as Taliban target opium initiative', CNN International, 29 April 2008
'Blast hits Afghan anti-drugs team', Al Jazeera, 29 April 2008
'Afghanistan's insurgency spreading north', ReliefWeb / Christian Science Monitor, 29 April 2008

Related posts:
'Responding to Afghanistan's opium economy challenge - World Bank report', 12 March 2008
'Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation highlighted in UNODC Annual Report 2008', 10 March 2008
'UN: Afghan opium trade fueling insurgency', 16 November 2007
'Opium in Afghanistan: Eradicate or subsidize?', 15 October 2007