Drug alert as Afghan opium crop soars by 35%

Coalition troops are losing the battle against Afghan drug lords, causing more heroin to flood into Britain, a damning report will reveal this month.

A United Nations investigation will show opium production in Afghanistan rose 35 per cent last year. The findings are an embarrassment to Britain, which is the country charged by the UN with eradicating Afghanistan's poppy fields.

Opium from poppies is the raw material needed to produce heroin, and the figures have serious implications for the drugs trade in the United Kingdom.

Charities claim greater cultivation in Afghanistan is likely to lead to cheaper heroin here. The country provides 70 per cent of the world's opium production and is responsible for 95 per cent of the heroin sold in the UK.

The annual UN Afghanistan Opium Survey will show that while production rose eight per cent last year, this year it rocketed another 35 per cent. That means opium cultivation is now more widespread than it was before the Taliban regime was overthrown.

More than 100,000 hectares are now being used for opium cultivation in Afghanistan - higher than the peak figure of 91,000 hectares in 1999. The report was originally to have been released at the start of this month but was delayed because of last weekend's elections in Afghanistan. It is now not expected to be released until the end of this month at the earliest.

The failure to clamp down on the opium trade will prompt further questions about Britain and America's reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Tony Blair cited the campaign against drugs as a key justification for the war against the Taliban. Before the military invasion in 2001 he said: "We act because the al Qaeda and the Taliban regime are funded in large parts by the drugs trade."

Labour MP David Cairns, who has led calls for poppy fields to be eradicated, accused the Government of not having a strategy to deal with the problem. He said: "Nobody is going to be surprised there's been a big increase as we haven't done anything to stop it."

Mr Cairns said the current policy of encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops, such as saffron, "cannot provide them with anything like the same money". He added: "In the meantime poppy cultivation grows, which increases opium supplies, which increases sales of heroin, which leads to more addicts."

Drug information charity DrugsCope said bumper opium harvests in Afghanistan were a cause for concern.

A spokesman said: "There is a strong likelihood a big increase in opium production in Afghanistan will result in increased supply of heroin to the UK, and an attendant lowering of local prices." The charity wants to see more international investment in Afghanistan to encourage opium producers to take up other professions.

But the spokesman added that unless demand was reduced in Britain, it was unlikely enforcement agencies would be able to reverse the increase in supply.

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said he was expecting an increase in opium production, adding: "We know from other countries which have managed to stamp it out that cultivation actually increases before reduction takes effect. Sizeable seizures are being made - 51 tonnes so far this year - and traffickers are being arrested."

He added: "There are no short cuts to success, but we and the Afghans are making progress towards a long-term solution. Development projects are underway to provide farmers with a viable alternative livelihood, and targeting for next year's poppy crop destruction is in hand.

"The real test of our efforts will be the next planting season."