Traffickers on the Afghan-Pakistan border are dumping stocks of opium on rumours that the Taliban is preparing to crack down on poppy smuggling.

Farmers in Helmand and Kandahar, the two southern provinces at the heart of Afghanistan’s booming drugs industry, report hearing a similar rumour, that poppy cultivation will be stopped by the Taliban next year. This may have started from an attempt by the insurgent movement to bolster opium prices for its financial benefit, which has now backfired.