Showing 1 - 10 of 32
Myanmar scam cities booming despite crackdown -- using Musk's Starlink
AFP, Published on 14/10/2025
» BEIJING - They said they had smashed them. But fraud factories in Myanmar blamed for scamming Chinese and American victims out of billions of dollars are still in business and bigger than ever, an AFP investigation can reveal.
Opium farming takes root in Myanmar's war-wracked landscape
AFP, Published on 10/03/2025
» PEKON, Myanmar - Scraping opium resin off a seedpod in Myanmar's remote poppy fields, displaced farmer Aung Hla describes the narcotic crop as his only prospect in a country made barren by conflict.
Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as top opium producer
AFP, Published on 12/12/2023
» Myanmar became the world's biggest producer of opium in 2023, overtaking Afghanistan after the Taliban government's crackdown on the trade, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday.
No alternative: Afghan farmers lament Taliban poppy ban
AFP, Published on 04/05/2023
» LASHKAR GAH (AFGHANISTAN) - In a secluded compound in south Afghanistan, Bibi Hazrato cries in dismay as a group of men hack down her poppy crop, enforcing a Taliban government order to wean the nation off the narcotic plant.
Israeli researchers find opium residue in 3,500-year-old pottery
AFP, Published on 21/09/2022
» YEHUD, Isarel: Israeli archaeologists said Tuesday they had discovered opium residue in 3,500-year-old pottery pieces, providing evidence to support the theory that the drug was used in ancient burial rituals.
Covid lifts Dutch 'coffeeshop' trade to new highs
AFP, Published on 10/12/2021
» THE HAGUE: At the No Limit Coffeeshop the customers stream in and out endlessly, as the cannabis trade booms despite Covid restrictions.
Under Taliban, Kabul's drug addicts forced into withdrawal
AFP, Published on 18/10/2021
» KABUL - With shaved heads, oversized tunics and the terrified gaze of the hunted, the drug addicts rounded up by the Taliban brace for 45 days of painful withdrawal.
Afghan pomegranate pickers jobless as fruits rot at shuttered border
AFP, Published on 14/10/2021
» KANDAHAR (AFGHANISTAN) - Afghanistan's festive pomegranate season has begun, but this year thousands of tonnes of the juicy red fruit risk rotting on trucks blocked at Pakistan's frequently shuttered border -- leaving thousands of farm workers unemployed.
India's biggest port operator to shun cargo from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran
AFP, Published on 12/10/2021
» NEW DELHI - India's largest port operator has said it will not handle cargo from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan from next month following the seizure of almost three tonnes of heroin.
Prices soar at opium market in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan
AFP, Published on 29/09/2021
» HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan: As the economy teeters on the brink of collapse, vendors at an opium market in southern Afghanistan say prices for their goods have skyrocketed since the Taliban takeover.