GUANGDONG CUSTOMS SEIZED 4,200 KILOGRAMS DRUGS LAST YEAR

More than 4,200 kilograms of drugs were seized last year by customs
officers in South China's Guangdong Province, thanks to a heightened
anti-smuggling campaign.

The quantity was 20 times more than the amount recovered the year
earlier, said customs officer Chen Lin.

Guangdong, one of China's most economically advanced regions, is a
major trading gateway for the nation.

Chen said yesterday 71 suspects were detained last year in relation to
drug smuggling offenses.

Guangdong Customs launched in May a special campaign to focus on
fighting the smuggling of drugs.

At the start of the offensive, local customs cracked the country's
biggest smuggling case, seizing imported heroin weighing more than 375
kilograms, 25 kilograms of caffeine and almost 1,950 kilograms of ephedrine.

A total of 25 suspects, including Hong Kong and Macao residents, were
detained.

The bust was believed to have smashed a drug smuggling, sales and
production group that was being controlled by overseas interests.

The gang was active in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and Dongguan
at the mouth of the Pearl River.

Guangdong Customs uncovered 6,758 smuggling cases last year, worth
about 2.7 billion yuan (US$330 million).

Of them, almost 40 cases were estimated to be worth at least 10
million yuan (US$1.2 million) each. They had a combined total of 1.6
billion yuan (US$192.8 million).

Most of the drug smuggling was attempted in Guangdong waters by using
container and cargo trucks that had been operating across the borders
between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Wenjindu and Huanggang in Shenzhen and Gongbei in Zhuhai were the
major border checkpoints where many smuggling cases - in addition to
just drugs - were uncovered last year.

About 2,250 of all smuggling cases worth 206 million yuan (US$24.8
million) were discovered in Guangdong waters, Chen said. More than 96
per cent of marine smuggling cases were cracked at the mouth of the
Pearl River.

Industrial oil, edible oil, CDs, cars and parts and computers were
among the items seized.

The big price gap in industrial and edible oil between the mainland,
Hong Kong and Macao has prompted more smugglers to try and bring the
products into the mainland in recent years, Chen said.