Any vehicle bearing the number ‘39’ used to raise eyebrows in
Afghanistan. Not anymore.

Aghan traffic authorities are retiring license plates containing
the number ‘39’ due to the figure’s bizarre connection with pimping and prostitution,
AFP reported.

Vice-President Amrullah Saleh said a decree would be brought into effect
this week.

Traffic officials had started feeding off of drivers with vehicles
bearing ‘39’ in the number plate, often taking bribes.

“The number (39) will be removed from the traffic system. It is
said that people pay $300 bribes to avoid the number,” he said in a
Facebook post.

The origin of 39’s street meaning is lost in time, but it is said to be
linked to a notorious pimp in the western city of Herat, whose car registration
plate contained the number.

Now, anyone driving a car sporting the figure grabs eyeballs, raising
questions of being linked to an underground sex industry, a taboo in the
devoutly Muslim nation.

New car owners have resorted to paying bribes to avoid being issued
licence plates with the digits.

“At the traffic department, they ask you if you want number 39 or
not,” said Hakim, a car dealer in the capital. “If you don’t, then they ask for a bribe.”

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He said nobody would buy a second-hand car with the digits because they
consider it ‘shameful’.

“Last year, I had to sell two cars at almost half the price because
they had 39 in their number plates,” Hakim told AFP.

The association has even spread beyond vehicles, and Afghans can be
teased or shunned for having telephone numbers or addresses featuring the
digits.