A two-year operation involving Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Thai
police forces has smashed a cross-border drug ring resulting in the
arrest of 11 people and the seizure of 57.4 kilograms of
heroin.
It is the first drug-trafficking action involving such
cooperation. Details of the operation were announced by the General
Administration of Customs in Beijing yesterday.
Initial investigations indicate the alleged ringleader Zhong
Wan-yi, a Taiwanese, who'd been operating around the Thai border in
southwest China's
Yunnan Province had been involved in drug trafficking to
Taiwan.
The location of his arrest was close to the "Golden Triangle,"
an area notorious for drug trafficking. The "Triangle" covers parts
of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar but not China. The sequence of events
emerged in a statement released by the administration.
April 2004: Yunnan border police were informed that a drug
trafficking group, posing as Taiwan businessmen, were seeking
refuge in Kunmin. The investigation discovered the group had heroin
supplies from the "Triangle" area and were smuggling them from
Bangkok to Taiwan aboard container ships. The information was
passed to the Criminal Investigation Bureau in Taiwan and Narcotics
Control Departments in Thailand and a joint task force was set
up.
January 5, 2006: Investigators from Taiwan were dispatched to
Macao and south China's
Guangdong Province to discuss the case with their mainland
counterparts.
January 26: Following a tip off from the mainland Taiwan
authorities solved a related trafficking case and seized a handgun
and ammunition.
February 3: Two other drug-smuggling cases were cracked in
Taiwan's Taichong and Keelong harbors. A total of 57.4 kilograms of
heroin worth more than 200 million yuan (US$25 million) were found
in containers loaded with Rosewood furniture from Thailand.
Meanwhile, Yunnan border police arrested Zhong and his
girlfriend, Chen Pei, on an estate in Kunming. His main distributor
in Taiwan, Chen Dengyue, was caught in Taichong on the same
day.
Taiwan media reported at the weekend that seven suspects had
been arrested on the mainland and three were taken into custody on
the island. The Ministry of Public Security would not confirm the
figure yesterday saying only that 11 suspects had been arrested for
drug trafficking while at least 20 others remained at large. The
names of those arrested were not available and it is not known
where they will be prosecuted.
Liu Xiaohui, deputy chief of the ministry's Anti-Smuggling
Bureau, said the cracking of the case marked a good start for
cooperation between police forces across the Straits.
"We are going to increase such cooperation and leave no
room for those who intend to make use of the current political
situation across the Straits to become involved in criminal
activities," said the deputy chief.
Latest information from the ministry explains that a joint task
force of police from the mainland, the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region and Taiwan have been working on another
successful drug trafficking case. At least 14 kilograms of heroin
was seized in that operation.
(China Daily February 16, 2006)