PRESS RELEASE | Dec. 22, 2008
2-and-a-half tons of drugs found in a school
By None , U.S. Forces – Afghanistan

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.”