KABUL, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan police have arrested 23 drug traffickers over the past seven days, the latest efforts in the fight against narcotics, authorities said Tuesday.

"During the past seven days, the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) and detective security organization arrested 23 people, on suspicion of transportation of drugs and narcotics from Kabul, Nangarhar, Herat, Parwan, Jawzjan and Kandahar provinces," the Counter-Narcotics Criminal Justice Task Force of Afghanistan (CJTF) said in a statement.

The cases were handed over to the Central Narcotics Tribunal (CNT), a special Afghan court for jurisdiction of major drug cases, for further investigation, the statement added.

Police also confiscated different types of narcotic drugs, 19 mobile phones and seven vehicles from the traffickers, according to the statement.

In addition, the appellant and primary courts of the CNT have sentenced 13 drug suspects to different ranges imprisonment over the period, the statement noted.

In 2017, some 9,000 tons of opium were produced in Afghanistan, a country notorious for growing opium-producing poppies.?