China's Yunnan on high alert on drug trafficking

KUNMING -- Southwest China's Yunnan province bordering the notorious opium-producing Golden Triangle is still the country's front line in the battle against drugs, with the capture in the province hitting a new high of 23.6 tonnes in 2016.

On Monday, to coincide with International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the province's narcotics control agencies held their annual anti-drug event, which was attended by over 2,500 people from all walks of life.

Zhang Taiyuan, head of the political and legal affairs commission of the Communist Party of China Yunnan Provincial Committee, said at the ceremony that 23.6 tonnes of drugs were seized in Yunnan last year, including 7.75 tonnes of heroin, 12.27 tonnes of Methamphetamine tablets and 3.15 tonnes of opium, which respectively accounted for 86.5 percent, 93.7 percent and 96.8 percent of the country's total.

On Monday, 5.6 tonnes of drugs were destroyed publicly in Mangshi city, Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture.

Border police and soldiers guarding China's 3,500 km border in Yunnan tackled more than 1,200 drug trafficking cases in the first half of this year, catching 1,100 suspects, seizing four tonnes of drugs and 380 tonnes of precursor chemicals.

Zhang Taiyuan said that the anti-drug campaign in Yunnan remained arduous, as trafficking is still a problem. More than 80 percent of heroin and 95 percent of Methamphetamine tablets in the domestic market were trafficked by way of Yunnan from the Golden Triangle.

The border public security department has begun to use high-tech devices in its work. High-precision video cameras and portable X-ray cargo inspection systems have been installed at border stations in Yunnan.

Dong Hai, captain of Yunnan public security frontier corps, said they used drones for border patrols in eight prefectures. In March, images sent by the drones helped police seize eight kg of drugs from traffickers with links to Ruili city.