Audacious

The Taliban's Heroin Cartel

Stockpiling opium to raise prices.

Struggling to find a dragon to chase recently? This may be why: International law enforcement officials think that the Taliban is stockpiling heroin, possibly to rig the market. Time reports that 6,000 to 8,000 tons of opium – enough to satisfy the world's addicts for two years – have disappeared from Afghanistan, which produces 93 percent of the world's supply. Because production has exceeded demand in recent years, prices would have collapsed had the surplus hit the market. This year, the Taliban has posted notices in Afghanistan telling farmers not to grow opium. A similar order in 2001 led to a tight supply and skyrocketing price for opium on the world market. As one U.N. official put it, "This is classic market manipulation."