About 2.5 tons of drugs and 180 tons of drug-producing chemicals have been seized in the past five months, the Guangdong public security department said.

Customs and public security authorities in Guangdong said more than 3,500 drug-related cases involving nearly 4,600 suspects were investigated in the same time period. These numbers represent a year-on-year increase of 27 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

The suspects include 78 foreigners and 71 residents of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

In a special campaign launched on May 18, police raided 30 illegal drug production bases in the province, said Zhang Lei, a police officer from Guangdong provincial department of public security.

Zhang said police detained 1,023 suspects and seized more than 800 kg of drugs from the production bases.

"The campaign has given a heavy blow to the drug and related crimes that used to be active in the prosperous province which borders Hong Kong and Macao," Zhang said.

Guangdong has been the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years.

On May 8, Guangdong police cooperated with their counterparts in Sichuan province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and fought a big drug-trafficking case, detaining six suspects.

"Guangdong has become a hot destination for drug-related crimes because of its geographical proximity to Hong Kong and Macao," Huang Shaodong, an official with Guangdong customs, said yesterday.

Huang said the number of drug trafficking crimes in Guangdong committed by foreigners from Africa and Vietnam has increased in the past months.

Sources with the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court said 30 drug trafficking and production cases involving 35 people have been heard so far this year.

Guangdong has the country's largest number of known drug addicts - 190,000 - of which nearly 80 percent are younger than 35.

(China Daily June 26, 2009)