Yunnan city honored for fighting narcotics trafficking

An anti-drug detachment in Lincang, Yunnan province, has been honored by the National Narcotics Control Commission as one of the 100 organizations to make prominent contributions to drug control in China since 2015.

As a border city, Lincang is challenged by the influx of drugs from the Golden Triangle－Thailand, Laos and Myanmar－that pass through the city into China.

Cutting off the drug trafficking channel here is very important for the whole country, said Zhao Yadong, head of the anti-drug detachment of Lincang's public security bureau.

The city has over 290 kilometers of border, with three ports and more than 100 passages connected to northern Myanmar, according to the detachment. It is considered an important gateway for drug smugglers.

To solve the problem, the city has held 14 talks and meetings with Myanmar, cooperated in cross-border drug law enforcement 40 times, captured 53 criminal suspects and an additional 18 fugitives, seized about 1.5 metric tons of drugs and destroyed two overseas drug processing plants.

The wild forests around the border are full of possible hideouts for drug lords and traffickers, and the passages have long been used as drug trafficking routes into China. After receiving clues, the police analyze cases repeatedly before taking further actions, said Yang Fujin, head of the detachment's intelligence station.

Since 2015, Lincang police have cracked 8,502 drug cases, arrested 8,728 criminal suspects and seized 27.7 tons of drugs and 2,479 tons of raw materials used to make drugs.

Given that criminals often use various methods to transport drugs, city police have been integrated to closely inspect postal materials delivered through all channels and used big data analysis to effectively combat and prevent drug-related crimes in logistics delivery channels. The number of drug trafficking cases has decreased each year and is currently down 60 percent from 2015.

Lincang's anti-drug detachment has 45 police and was one of the nation's first special anti-drug forces when it was established in 1982.

The detection of anti-drug cases is a sort of art and requires careful management. Narcotics police near the border often have to cross the border to handle cases, he said.

Narcotics police sent across the border to carry out work and collect information should have outstanding individual abilities. They must master local dialects and customs and lurk among drug dealers and smugglers for years while facing death every day, because drug dealers have a wealth of experience in counter-detection and the police may be killed if they are careless, Yang said.

According to the bureau, one policeman in the detachment died and 16 police were wounded while dealing with cases over the past five years.

Yang, 37, a native of Lincang, grew up in a family of police officers－his father is a narcotics officer while his mother is a traffic officer. The spirit that his father's generation has shown fighting against drugs was imprinted on Yang's heart when he was a child, inspiring him to become a policeman.

Like many other narcotics police, there is no obvious distinction between working days and rest days for Yang. Staying up all night is a common occurrence, especially while working on a case, he said.

According to Yang's wife, he has spent over 200 days on business trips since they got married.

He said he sometimes feels quite sorry for his family, but he insisted that as a narcotics officer, he must pour his passion into his work to protect the people.