Former Afghan Customs Chief Seeks Asylum

Taken from Yahoo News, Jan 29 2007
By TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press

LONDON - A Pakistani man sewed opium into the beads of a tapestry. An Afghan taped drug bags to his body. A Chinese woman tucked narcotics into hollowed heels.

Afghan Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil says he arrested them all, and that has been the source of all his problems. The Afghan government, however, accuses Amarkhil of corruption and wants him returned to his homeland for questioning.



Until October, Amarkhil was a top customs official in the world's largest opium producer, responsible for halting the flow of drugs through Afghanistan's main airport. Now he is seeking asylum in London, claiming his life is in danger from drug lords who pressured the government to fire him amid corruption charges.

"If I was corrupt I wouldn't be here now," Amarkhil told The Associated Press as he sat huddled by a space heater in a cramped one-room apartment in a west London suburb. "If I accepted money the smugglers offered me, I would be a very rich man today. One thing is clear: I am here because I didn't deal with them."

Though Western backers of President Hamid Karzai's government have pumped hundreds of millions of aid into anti-drugs programs, corruption at every level of government has made it impossible to make significant inroads, experts say. U.S. officials have said the drug trade helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency.

Last year, Afghanistan had a record opium crop, producing enough to make 670 tons of heroin, even more than the world's addicts consume annually.

Amarkhil spent 18 months as the customs chief at Kabul International Airport. Far from the modern world of X-ray machines and drug-trained dogs, officials at the Kabul airport often worked without even the basics, like electricity.

"I had no machines, no scanners, not even any (sniffer) dogs. All I had was my experience, my spies and Allah," he said, pointing his finger to the sky.

Amarkhil contends he was so successful he upset druglords tied to corrupt government officials, who in turn, accused him of corruption.

Afghan Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Aloko says Amarkhil fled rather than face scrutiny; Amarkhil says he was questioned and released, but left fearing death threats.

"He was scared because we had strong evidence for what he was accused," Aloko said. "We are trying to bring him back to the country with the help of Interpol."

Britain's Home Office and its Serious Organized Crime Agency would not confirm or deny receiving any extradition requests.

Amarkhil disputes the allegations, saying the charges were trumped up by officials in the pay of drug kingpins. The 44-year-old father of seven earned a salary of $500 a month — and said he was routinely offered bribes of $2,000 to $5,000 by traffickers to let their cargo through.

A senior Western official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, described Amarkhil as "fairly aggressive" in carrying out his duties. He said the alleged corruption was low-level — involving such things as visas and parking fees.

Amarkhil said he can prove his claim that high-placed officials allow drug runners to operate brazenly. From a suitcase, the former customs officer brought out videotapes describing dates and times of some of his most successful busts.

The videotapes show smugglers being taken into a room to be questioned, as their stash of drugs was laid before them. Dozens of nationalities were represented: Pakistani men with long beards, Thai women, Chinese girls and Nigerian businessmen.

One showed an Afghan man allegedly caught trying to conceal 14 pounds of heroin. In another, a woman caught with two pounds of heroin threatened Amarkhil with retaliation from "friends in high places." She was freed in less than a month, Amarkhil said.

Corruption in the country's central institutions not only stymies the fight against drugs ahead of this year's upcoming harvest, but also poses an increased risk to the 30,000-strong NATO force battling the Taliban-led insurgency, Amarkhil said.