269.7 kg of heroin found in beehives
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-16 15:46

Four suspects were caught after 269.7 kilograms of heroin were found hidden inside beehives on a truck in Dai-Va Autonomous County of Gengma in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau said on Wednesday.

Local police were tipped off on February 29 that a gang was planning to traffic drugs from Myanmar into the province through Gengma, so they set up a sting.

At 3:30 am on April 4, the police found 269.7 kilograms of heroin, the largest quantity seized so far this year in the country, in 63 beehives in Mengding Town and arrested two suspects.

Another two suspects were captured in Yunxian County and Kunming, the provincial capital, later that day.

All four suspects are from East China's Zhejiang Province and further investigation is ongoing, said the bureau.

Close to the Golden Triangle, a drug production area that spans Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, drugs often flow through Yunnan Province which Chinese authorities have targeted as an area to clamp down on the influx of drugs.