China's customs police seized a total of 789 kilograms of drugs
at border crossings and customs checks in 2006, up 65.5 percent
year-on-year, a senior police officer said Tuesday.
The customs police also investigated 335 cases of drug
trafficking, up 91.9 percent over the year previous, said Li
Wenjian, deputy head of the anti-smuggling bureau under the General
Administration of Customs.
"The amount of drugs seized at customs has been on a rise in
recent years, which shows that overseas drug dealers are
transporting more drugs to and through China," Li said.
China established an anti-smuggling police force at its border
crossing and customs checks in 1999. The force now has more than
9,000 officers.
From 1999 to the end of last year, customs police across China
had investigated 1,034 cases of drug trafficking and seized 15.2
tons of drugs, GAC statistics shows.
During that same period anti-smuggling police also investigated
395 cases involving the smuggling rare animals, 265 cases involving
illegal importation of foreign waste, 202 cases of importing
pornography and 220 cases involving smuggling ancient relics,
counterfeit money, guns, ammunition and rare metals.
The anti-smuggling police at customs checks across China have
investigated 10,415 criminal cases involving goods valued at 132.14
billion yuan (US$16.94 billion) since 1999, Li said.
Li said a total of 13,086 suspects were arrested by the customs
police over the seven year period, without indicating how many were
involved in drug smuggling.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)