Afghan courts have sentenced 12 drugs smugglers to a total of 155 years in jail after their arrests led to the seizure of heroin and opium valued at 97 million dollars, a British team said Friday. The men were all from the southern province of Helmand, the heart of Afghanistan's illegal drugs production, and were convicted in the past six months, the British-run provincial reconstruction team said in a statement.
"A bonus is that more than half of the 19 tons of opium, and 206 kilos (450 pounds) of heroin, that were seized when those men were arrested would have been heading for the United Kingdom," it quoted British police adviser Dave Wright as saying.
Police said the drugs would have a street value in Britain of at least 65 million pounds (97 million dollars), an official said. The men were sentenced in the capital Kabul to between 10 and 17 years each, reaching a total of 155, and ordered to pay nearly 247,000 dollars in fines.