Haji Baz Mohammad Update. “Drug lord ‘waged jihad’,” from the Associated Press:
An Afghan drug lord accused of plotting to poison U.S. neighbourhoods with heroin was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison yesterday.
Haji Baz Mohammad, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin after he admitted violating drug laws from 1990 to 2005 by shipping heroin from Afghanistan and leading a drug ring that stretched into neighbouring Pakistan. He was the first Afghan heroin kingpin extradited from Afghanistan, authorities said.
Mohammad pleaded guilty in July to a charge of conspiring to violate drug laws. Without the plea, Mohammad could have faced up to life in prison.
Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Karen Tandy said in a news release that the sentencing demonstrated U.S. resolve “to destroy the hold opium lords have on Afghanistan.”
It would be great to see much more of that resolve.
She added: “This drug kingpin bragged that he waged jihad against Americans by poisoning them with his heroin. His attack was unconventional, and his massive drug profits funded the Taliban and other extremist organizations dedicated to destroying freedom and justice.”
Mohammad has been in custody since his 2005 arrest in Kandahar, Afghanistan.