From an interesting post on arms smuggling to Afghanistan at the Army Rumour Service
The arms smugglers load arms onto camels and usually travel in small convoys in the night along the Afghan border. The camels are made to be addicted to opium; after which they are taken over the border and loaded up. They're given a small dose, just enough to make them want more, they head for home to get their next fix!
Well, I’m in no position to verify this and I suppose that if it’s true it’s an old technique… but what a great example of opium as a resource curse: buys the arms and fuels the transports.
Camels have a pretty strong homing instinct anyway, so I think that feeding them opium might be superfluous here.
Posted by: dsquared | July 04, 2007 at 02:58 PM
This does have the stamp of utter bollocks, doesn't it?
Posted by: ejh | July 04, 2007 at 04:48 PM