Police in South Korea say they have arrested a number of South Asian men suspected of involvement in drugs rings linked to Taleban insurgents.
The men were suspected of trying to smuggle raw materials for heroin production into Afghanistan, a police spokesman said.
In one raid, officers seized about 12 tons of acetic anhydride.
When mixed with morphine extracted from opium poppies, the chemical produces heroin.
Separate raids
A total of nine people had been arrested in South Korea, the French news agency AFP quoted police as saying.
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It was there that the 12 tons of acetic anhydride was found.
One of those arrested admitted the chemicals were heading for the Taleban, police said.
In a separate, earlier operation, one Pakistani man was held and another sought after a raid in another part of the city.
Police said they believed that group had shipped about 50 tons of the chemical to Afghanistan since April 2007.
Sixty-two tons of acetic anhydride could be used to make nearly 30 tons of heroin, Yonhap news agency quoted a police investigator as saying.
Revenue from the drugs trade is a major source of funding for the Taleban.
Last month, a United Nations agency said the insurgents made an estimated $100m (Ј50m) in 2007 from Afghan farmers growing poppy for the opium trade.
(BBC)
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