MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police have arrested 16 people on charge of involvement in drug smuggling in Afghanistan's northern Balkh province over the past couple of days, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri said on Monday.
The alleged smugglers were attempting to take 72 kg hashish, 80 pieces of western-made tablet K and objects used in manufacturing heroin out of the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif when police identified and took them into custody, according to the officer.
In a similar operation, Afghan counter-narcotics police arrested three people on charge of involvement in drug smuggling in the capital Kabul on Saturday.
The Afghan caretaker administration has banned poppy cultivation and vowed to crack down on illicit drugs and trafficking until the war-torn country gets rid of the drug menace. ■