KABUL, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Counter-Narcotic Police arrested a suspect drug trafficker with Iran nationality in Afghanistan's western Herat province on Wednesday, a statement of Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

    "Police found and confiscate 54 kg of Ice in a car near the Custom Office in Herat," the statement added.

    "An Iranian nationality was arrested and transferred to prosecution department for investigation," The statement quotes Gen. Mohammad Daud Daud counter-narcotics deputy to interior ministry as saying.

    Poverty is a major reason behind production of poppy that can bring a farmer ten times income than wheat crop.

    Around 90 percent of the world heroin produced in Afghanistan has been smuggled to other parts of the world through neighbouring counties especially Iran and Pakistan.

    Meantime, the Afghan government said that 23 out of the country's 34 provinces have been poppy free and the target will be achieved in three to five more provinces within the next couple of years.