Seven teenagers involved in five separate drug trafficking cases, which were cracked by local police last week, have been taken into custody, according to a press statement released Sunday by the Public Prosecutor-General Office of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

All of the suspects in the five cases are local teenagers, some of whom are students and croupiers working at local casinos.

The cases took place from Feb. 29 to March 7, the office said, adding that it is "rare" in recent years for so many drug- trafficking cases involving teenagers in just a week.

The office also said that besides smuggling and peddling drugs, some of the suspects even robbed a pregnant woman so as to collect money to buy drugs.

The suspects, whose age the authority did not reveal, will face charges of drug trafficking, robbery and possession of illegal weapons, and given the seriousness of these crimes, the suspects were remanded in Macao's prison pending court trial, according to the statement.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 10, 2008)