Under the watchful eye of police and government officials, opium is collected, processed, graded and shipped out to buyers around the world. All photographs are Copyright Pablo Bartholomew , and may NOT be used in any context or form whatsoever without express written permission. Ghazipur Opium Processing Plant workers drying opium in pans, using age-old techniques. I n Ghazipur, the oldest opium processing factory in India, rows of barracks-like buildings stand behind high walls topped with barbed wire.
Workers dripping sweat, carry the sacks of dried opium into dark, humid hangars.
Inside, shadowy figures hover around four swiming-pool sized tanks, capable of holding 65 tons of opium each. At the bottom of one of these stinking pits, workers, knee-deep in black sludge, are using their bare hands to load buckets, hauled up for drying in the hot sun. Nimuch is the more modern of the two opium factories. Hundreds of drying pans are arrayed in the sun, stirred constantly to maintain consistency. Armed with long-handled shovels, they stir the sticky substance until it has the consistence of putty.