CHINA HOLDS DRUGS KINGPIN

Golden Triangle Drugs Increasingly Pour Through China

China is claiming a major victory in its war against armed heroin gangs
operating inside Burma's Golden Triangle.

State media has announced that one of the kingpins of the heroin trade - a
Chinese-born drug boss Tan Xiaolin - has been captured and handed over to
China by Burmese authorities.

They have also arrested 18 members of Tan's armed gang and seized three
tonnes of heroin.

State-run media is calling this the biggest coup against the Golden
Triangle drug gangs in nearly half a century.

For nearly 10 years, Tan had been running what the media are describing as
the biggest armed drug smuggling group inside the Triangle.

From there, the gang shipped large quantities of heroin through South-west
China to Hong Kong and then on to the rest of the world.

Preferred Route

Tan was caught in April, after a year-long man-hunt which China says
involved close co-operation with police in Burma.

China has long been the preferred route of Burma's drug gangs to get their
product to the outside world.

But in recent years, China itself has started to become a major market for
the heroin producers.

Drug addiction is now a serious problem in many of China's cities.

It has prompted the authorities in Beijing to take a much tougher line
against the drug gangs and to strengthen co-operation - not just with
Burma, but also with Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.