South Korean police said Friday that several Afghan and Pakistani drug smugglers admitted their ties to the Taliban after being arrested near Seoul.
According to the National Police Agency, the suspects, including two Afghans and three Pakistanis who operated in separate groups, attempted to use South Korea as a shipping point for massive quantities of acetic anhydride destined for southern Afghanistan.
"They have admitted that the agent's final recipient was the Taliban, but they are denying that they are members of the Taliban. We are going to further investigate," said Kim Ki-yong, a foreign affairs investigation officer at a press conference here.
Police found 12 tons of acetic anhydride in a chemical engineering factory in Ansan, an industrial zone near Seoul, where the two Afghans were arrested. The chemical agent was disguised as motor oil for shipment, police said.
In the separate operation by the three Pakistanis, police said about 50 tons of the substance have already been ended up in the hands of the Taliban, local media said.
The chemical agent was shipped under the guise of hydrogen peroxide solution, a disinfectant, from April 2007 to March this year, police said.
The operations were funded by Hawala, a huge money broker network based mainly in the Middle East, police said.
The value of the entire 62 tons of acetic anhydride is about 360 million won (344,800 U.S. dollars), and it could be used to produce nearly 30 tons of heroin that will generate massive profits, Kang added.
"The suspects had money transferred from accounts suspected to be linked to Hawala, and they acknowledged they had received orders from the Taliban," Kang said.
The acetic anhydride was originally imported from Japan through several South Korean dealers, who are now being questioned, police said.
The investigation started in March after the International Criminal Police Organization discovered 14 tons of the agent, whose shipping origin was South Korea, in Pakistani port city of Karachi, and notified the South Korean police, Kang said.
Acetic anhydride is also used for producing trinitrotoluence, a chemical explosive more commonly known as TNT, but police suspect heroine was the purpose of the smuggling.
Source:Xinhua
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