A FORMER Witney school pupil has been hailed a hero after leading an operation that seized £17.5m in opium and weapons while on tour in Afghanistan.

Last night, the parents of Lieutenant Paul Charlesworth spoke of their pride in learning their son had commanded the swoop, thought to be the biggest of its kind.

The 24-year-old, of Finstock, near Witney, has been in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (1PWRR) since September.

He has been mentoring the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in Gereshk, in the northern part of Nahr-e Saraj district.

Earlier this week the forces descended on the address of a man suspected of illegally selling Government-owned land in the town.

Inside the address, the police force, commanded by Lt Charlesworth and his colleagues from 1PWRR found several bags of wet opium, the name for the drug when it is in its undiluted raw state.

The teams then discovered a room hidden under a trapdoor – with dozens more bags of the drug hidden away underneath alongside a significant weapons cache full of guns, rocket launchers and compartments to make roadside bombs designed to maim and kill international forces.

The street value of the haul, which weighed in at more than 175kg of wet opium, has been estimated at £17.5m.

Lt Charlesworth said: “Once we got to the compound we quickly realised this was a really significant find.

“We started to see all the weapons coming out, all the ammunition, the ANSF uniforms, and then the opium, and called in provincial-level counter-narcotics team.

“This is the largest drugs find that I’ve ever been involved in, and the biggest that the International Security Assistance Force has been involved in since we arrived in September.”

The suspect will now face prosecution by the Afghan justice system.

Lt Charlesworth was due to come home last Friday to join his parents Rosa and Mick Charlesworth and girlfriend Susan Buckle in time for Christmas.

But he was forced to continue the tour in a colleague’s place after the soldier was called home for family reasons.

Mrs Charlesworth, who herself served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, said her son would not have minded, as he was happiest while serving.

She said: “He has always wanted to be a soldier. He’s not happy unless he’s out there. I’m not surprised he’s being called a hero. We knew he’d do something like this.

“We are very proud of him.”

His father, who served with the Parachute Regiment for many years, said: “We were a little bit shocked to learn the size of the stash when but not totally surprised.”

He added: “We get worried with him out there. But he’s out there serving with other people whose parents are going through the same thing.

“This is what he’s trained for.

“He’s doing what he wants to do. He loves it, and we’re very proud of him.”

Miss Buckle, 26, who currently lives in Germany, added: “I miss Paul like mad, but when things like this happen, and you find out he’s really helping, it makes it all worthwhile.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk