PRESS RELEASE
US Forces Afghanistan
December 20, 2008
Release Number 20082012-03
2-and-a-half tons of drugs found in a school
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan Commandos and Coalition forces discovered
and destroyed two-and-a-half tons of drugs found in a local school in
Arghestan district, Kandahar province, Dec. 19.
The combined forces were conducting a foot patrol when a Commando
stopped to search a school en route to their objective. The building
contained an estimated two-and-a-half tons of marijuana and a large room
filled with marijuana seeds. The drugs were stored in the two-foot-tall
stacks that filled multiple 12ft-by-12ft rooms.
No students or faculty were at the schoolhouse at the time of the
discovery. The school’s furniture had been taken out of the classrooms
and left in the courtyard. The amount of rust on the furniture indicated
the school may not have been used for its intended purpose for a
prolonged period of time.
With the help of local villagers the drugs were taken outside of the
school and destroyed. The school was not damaged during the destruction
of the illegal drugs.
The combined forces also destroyed an improvised explosive device and an
unexploded mortar round, both located approximately 100-meters from the
school.
"Using drugs to fund insurgent activity is bad enough," said Col. Jerry
O’Hara, U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesperson. "Using a school as a drug
warehouse is an attack on the future of all Afghanistan."
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