Russia, Afghanistan drug police to hold special operation in Afghanistan

MOSCOW, May 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russian drug police jointly with their Afghan counterparts will hold a special operation in Afghanistan to curb drug trafficking soon, head of the Federal Service for Control over Drug Circulation Viktor Ivanov said at a 5th meeting of heads of the drug watchdogs of the Central Asian anti-drug quartet here on Wednesday. “I also note that another joint operation with Afghan drug watchdog will be held in next few days as the first stage of special operation codenamed “Channel - Southern Trap.” The special operation will combine a combat operation and strategic drills to suppress trans-national drug-trafficking groups which use the Afghan province of Badakhshan for Afghan drug trafficking,” Ivanov said. He noted that the special operation would be aimed at drilling practical co-operation and elements of combat interoperability of special task forces and coordinated actions with anti-drug agencies in the countries which were brought together in the Central Asian anti-drug quartet and Iran with due account of a possible transformation of the format in quintet. “We would like to see Iran in our group, because this is a country which is located in a drug production centre,” the Russian drug police chief said. Learn more on itar-tass.com