ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani anti-narcotics official said this week an “unprecedented” surge in synthetic drug production in neighboring Afghanistan and smuggling to Pakistan was responsible for a spike in substance use in the last few years.

Afghanistan has historically been the epicenter of poppy cultivation and a major supplier of global opiates. But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said last year opium cultivation fell throughout the country to just 10,800 hectares (26,700 acres) in 2023 from 233,000 hectares the previous year, slashing supply by 95 percent to 333 tons.

“While there has been a decline in poppy cultivation in our neighboring country, an unprecedented rise in the production of synthetic drugs there has been witnessed,” ANF Director Syed Sijjeel Haider told reporters on Monday. 

“There has been an increase in drug usage and narcotics smuggling in Pakistan over the past few years, with the majority of those affected being our youth.”

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen rejected Haider’s claim, calling it an effort to “malign” Afghanistan.

“It is not true. We don’t have chemicals in Afghanistan which are used in synthetic drugs,” he told Arab News in a written statement. “All these chemicals are available in Pakistan. There are factories in tribal areas in Pakistan which make synthetic drugs.” 

Although there are no official statistics, health professionals in Pakistan, a nation of some 240 million, warn that addiction to crystal meth is soaring. Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that can be injected, snorted, smoked, or ingested orally. Health experts say users get a “euphoric high” that can last from minutes to several hours. Meth abuse can lead to anxiety, insomnia, and violent behavior, according to experts.

Pakistan’s interior ministry approved a fresh National Drug Survey this year to help combat the growing drug problem. The last survey in 2012-13 revealed that around 6 percent of the Pakistani population at the time, or 6.7 million people, had used substances other than alcohol and tobacco in the previous year. The highest prevalence of drug use was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where almost 11 percent of the population used an illicit substance.

The real figures were and are likely much higher as drug abuse is a taboo in Pakistan where many do not seek treatment for addiction.

Haider said Pakistan had largely eliminated drug production and the ANF was collaborating with security agencies to combat poppy cultivation, mainly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern Balochistan provinces, both of which border Afghanistan.

“This year, the ANF destroyed poppy crops over 1,113 acres and sealed three storage facilities,” the ANF director said, adding that the force had seized 113,798 kilograms of narcotics in various operations that were valued at approximately $6.5 billion in the illicit international drugs market.

More than 1,400 suspects, including 116 women and 44 foreigners, were arrested and three ANF personnel were killed during raids this year, he added. Additionally, 2,931 drug addicts were treated at seven ANF rehabilitation centers and over 5,500 awareness sessions on the prevention of drug abuse were conducted nationwide in 2024 so far.

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from pursuing a graft case against former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Khan, and ordered its transfer to another court, local media reported.
The case, also called the new Toshakhana reference, came to the fore after the accountability watchdog arrested the couple following their acquittal in an illegal marriage case on July 13. It pertains to a jewelry set, comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace a pair of earrings worth over €380,000 (Rs138 million), gifted to the former first lady by a foreign dignitary that was allegedly undervalued by the couple and retained against a lesser price.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan last week restored amendments to the country’s anti-graft laws approved in 2022, limiting NAB’s jurisdiction to cases involving corruption of over Rs500 million, reducing the term of the chairman of the bureau and prosecutor general to three years and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations and trials to other authorities.
On Monday, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Ali Warraich heard post-arrest bail applications of Khan and his wife in the new Toshakhana case after they were brought before the court from jail, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
“The court declared that following the NAB amendments, the reference in question ceased to come under the anti-graft body’s jurisdiction, therefore, it will now be transferred to the FIA court, which will rule on bail,” the report read.
Khan had petitioned the top court against the amendments, claiming they were brought to benefit the influential, including top politicians, and would legitimize corruption in the country.
Interestingly, Khan, who has been in jail since August last year on a slew of charges, has become a direct beneficiary of the restored amendments after being able to move the courts for his acquittal in at least two major corruption cases, namely a land bribe case involving a 190-million-pound bribe and the investigation involving the illegal sale of state gifts.
“It’s safe to say new Toshakhana [state gifts] case against Imran Khan can no longer continue as it exceeds Rs500 million cap, making it ineffective, as per the new amendments,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said last week after the Supreme Court approved the amendments. “It will also impact the £190 million case.”
The ex-premier was convicted in four cases. Two of the cases have since been suspended and he was acquitted in the remaining two, including the illegal marriage case.
Khan’s convictions had ruled the 71-year-old out of the February general elections as convicted felons cannot run for public office under the Pakistani law. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says the cases against him are “politically motivated,” aimed at keeping him from returning to power. Pakistani authorities deny this.
The ex-premier is also facing multiple cases relating to May 9, 2023 protests, which saw his supporters attack government and military installations over his brief arrest in a graft case.