Taliban profits from U.S. heroin addicts
I don't get scared easily, but busting suspected heroin dealers with undercover cops in St. Louis this week really sent my heart racing. We went there to see what happens when heroin from Afghanistan hits America's streets.
We watched as an undercover officer from the St. Louis County P.D. invited a suspected dealer into his car after the guy promised he knew where to get heroin. They call this "tripping with a steer" -- that's when a suspect is taking the undercover cop on a ride to find drugs. (The things you learn on the street!)
There were about seven cars, including ours, tailing the suspect and the undercover cop. We could hear the suspect and the cop talking on the walkie-talkie because there was one hidden in their car. That's how the street team knows their guy is still safe.
It's scary stuff though. Heroin only costs 20 bucks a pop, but people are willing to kill for it.
We watched as the suspect made a buy on the street. Turns out it was crack, not heroin, and he wound up getting away after the deal. But the police pounced on the dealer who sold the suspect the drugs. They were yelling, "Don't swallow it, man."
The sad part is the work for these guys never ends. Reports suggest Afghanistan's Taliban are responsible for a growing number of poppy fields. (Poppies are a raw ingredient used to make heroin.) It is estimated that Afghanistan now supplies around 90 percent of the world's heroin.
So in a strange twist, the Taliban, a group at odds with the United States, stands to profit handsomely from the sale of drugs on America's streets.
