Local police in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced that 27 drug trafficking suspects from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Africa had been captured so far this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Police in Xinjiang said they had arrested the suspects in connection with 13 major cases involving multi-national drug trafficking. Police confiscated 53.1 kilograms of heroin, which was almost triple the amount seized last year, according to a press release provided by the provincial public security department over the weekend.

Police attributed the spike in drug-smuggling cases to a drastic increase in production in the "Golden Crescent" area, which is currently the world's leading source of illicit drugs. The area straddles the common borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

In 1999, the area produced 4,600 tons of opium, or about 75 per cent of the world's total output that year, making Afghanistan the world's top opium producer. This year, by contrast, Afghanistan is expected to produce 6,100 tons of opium, or 92 per cent of the total global output.

To prevent drugs from the Golden Crescent flowing into China, local public security departments have reinforced their staff and toughened inspection procedures along the frontier, as well as at customs bureaus, storage depots and major ports, and along air routes and roads.

On October 22, customs officers found 20.7 kilograms of heroin in powder form hidden in 10 boxes marked "date fruits" that two Pakistan businessmen were carrying. That discovery represented the largest seizure of illegal drugs to take place in Xinjiang. To date, nine suspects have been seized in connection with that case, including six Africans and three Pakistanis.

In mid-July, after a series of arrests in Beijing and Jiangsu Province, officers from the local public security department arrested 30 suspects and seized 7.5 kilograms of heroin, 14 grams of heroin additives and 960,000 yuan (US$120,000) in cash.