Guangdong shedding drug hub status, police chief says

Police in Guangdong province seized more than 5.1 metric tons of narcotics in the first five months of the year, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The authorities handled 5,080 cases related to drugs, detained 6,250 suspected drug traffickers and investigated 48,900 drug addicts, according to Guo Shaobo, deputy director of the Guangdong Public Security Department.

"The continuous efforts made in the fight against drug-related crime in the southern province have achieved significant results," Guo told a news conference in Guangzhou.

"There has been a large drop in the number of drug production dens, and Guangdong is slowly shedding its status as a major drug distribution hub," he said. "The prices of crystal meth and K-powder (ketamine) have reportedly risen due to our crackdown."

However, Guo said combating such crime is a tough task in Guangdong, the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years. The province has more than 654,000 registered drug addicts, about one-sixth of the national total.

Drug traffickers from home and abroad have continued to use Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao, as a drug distribution hub, smuggling illegal substances in and out of the province.

Guangzhou police detained 19 people, including 11 foreigners, in May on suspicion of smuggling drugs and selling them to students in the city.

Two secret drug warehouses and two packaging locations were raided and large amounts of illegal substances were seized, police said.

Meanwhile, Guangdong Customs officials have seized another 1.14 tons of narcotics while investigating 134 smuggling cases this year, according Zhou Jijun, deputy director of the authority's anti-smuggling bureau. Some 72 suspects were detained.