Afghan link to Seoul drug arrests

Police in South Korea say they have arrested a number of South Asian men suspected of involvement in drugs rings linked to Taleban insurgents.

The men were suspected of trying to smuggle raw materials for heroin production into Afghanistan, a police spokesman said.

In one raid, officers seized about 12 tons of acetic anhydride.

When mixed with morphine extracted from opium poppies, the chemical produces heroin.

Separate raids

A total of nine people had been arrested in South Korea, the French news agency AFP quoted police as saying.

Two men, an Afghan and an Indian, were arrested on Wednesday when police raided a factory in a suburb of Seoul.

It was there that the 12 tons of acetic anhydride was found.

One of those arrested admitted the chemicals were heading for the Taleban, police said.

In a separate, earlier operation, one Pakistani man was held and another sought after a raid in another part of the city.

Police said they believed that group had shipped about 50 tons of the chemical to Afghanistan since April 2007.

Sixty-two tons of acetic anhydride could be used to make nearly 30 tons of heroin, Yonhap news agency quoted a police investigator as saying.

Revenue from the drugs trade is a major source of funding for the Taleban.

Last month, a United Nations agency said the insurgents made an estimated $100m (£50m) in 2007 from Afghan farmers growing poppy for the opium trade.