MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Steady growth of narcotics production in Afghanistan represents a threat for Russia and the West, sources in the Russian intelligence services said.
"In the current year, according to the estimation of experts, there may be more than 6,100 tonnes of raw opium in Afghanistan. This is almost three times more than five years ago. Out of this quality of raw opium it is possible to create 610 tonnes of heroin," said Lieutenant Generl Alexander Mikhailov, the director of the Information and Interagency Relations Department in the Russian Federal Narcotic Control Agency.
The basic amount of narcotics on the "black market" including more than 90% of heroin originates in Afghanistan. After the departure of Russian border guards from the Tajik-Afghan border in 2005, the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan has increased significantly, Mikhailov said .
The agency said the U.S. and allied anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan will not lower the supply of narcotics from this country.
Deputy Director of the Federal Narcotic Control Agency Colonel General Alexander Fyodorov told Interfax that criminal groups which are involved in the illegal importation of Afghan heroin into Russia and the Western Europe, may try to get narcotics to the U.S. market.
Fyodorov said, "Although only small amounts of heroin get into the U.S. now, there is a threat of breaking through this barrier. It is necessary to be ready and to take countermeasures."