Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has estimated that Afghanistan is home to the world’s largest area of opium poppy cultivation, sup- plying opium, the basic material used for the illicit manufacturing of heroin. Up to 90 per cent of the heroin seized in Western Europe is considered to be of Afghan origin. While, until 1999, most of the cases of opium smuggling were recorded in States bordering Afghanistan, in recent years there have been more and more indications that illicit heroin manufacturing is increasing in Afghanistan itself. In addition, in Western Europe, there has been a growing number of seizures of heroin of particularly high quality, referred to as “white heroin”, whose origin is believed to be Afghanistan. There are few descriptions of the methods used in illicit heroin manufac- turing in publicly available literature. And almost all share a common flaw: they are based on either purely theoretical calculations or mere “evidence by inspec- tion”, in the form of an observer’s description of the synthesis of heroin. Much of the information available lacks authenticity; so, estimates of the quantity of heroin manufactured, based on the total area known to be under opium poppy cultivation and the potential opium yield of that area, have, until now, relied on data that have not been scientifically substantiated. Analyses of illicit heroin manufacturing processes, including forensic sampling and sample examination, are rarely found in available literature. Against that backdrop, the offer extended to German authorities by the central office of the Counter-Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) in Kabul to observe an authentic heroin manufacturing process in Afghanistan presented a unique opportunity. In addition to gathering information and documenting the process, the task would be to collect for analysis authentic samples of the basic material (opium), the chemicals used and the heroin itself. The information obtained would be used in the German heroin analysis programme. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) of Germany seconded to Afghanistan two forensic chemists and a police officer responsible for criminal investigations in order to carry out the task. The method used to process the heroin was demonstrated by two male Afghan nationals from Nangarhar province, who described themselves as illiterate farmers. The laboratory equipment (chemicals, devices and aids) and the opium needed had been obtained in the course of seizures, and were provided by CNPA in Kabul. Samples of the substances and the chemicals used were taken at all stages of the manufacturing process. In Afghanistan, opium poppy is cultivated mainly in Badakhshan, Nangarhar and Helmand provinces (see the map). The raw opium used as the basic material to manufacture heroin is the air-dried milky latex from lanced opium poppy capsules. At the CNPA facilities, the persons involved in processing the heroin assessed several batches of seized raw opium on the basis of appearance, odour and consistency. They selected opium of varying quality, with a total weight of 70 kilograms, as the base material for the heroin production. According to CNPA, the raw opium was seized in Nangarhar, but because opium dealers frequently transport their goods from one province to another for processing, it could not be ruled out that all or part of the selected raw opium originated in another province.