Customs authorities in the booming southern city of Guangzhou have discovered 28 kilograms of marijuana leaves concealed in 215 pairs of shoes.

The customs checkpoint at Baiyun International Airport found the carefully-packed marijuana leaves in a suspicious shipment of five suitcases and a nylon bag that arrived in Guangzhou from Addis Ababa aboard flight ET606 on Aug. 6, 2006, but was never declared at Customs.

When they opened the packages on Jan. 11 this year, officials found the shipment contained 215 pairs of platform shoes, whose soles had been hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana leaves.

A spokesman with Guangzhou customs said the city had cracked 85 drug trafficking cases and seized 144 kilograms of drugs since it tightened scrutiny at major checkpoints last September.

In December, a Guangzhou court sentenced to death Chen Bingxi, 50, a notorious drug kingpin, for producing, selling and transporting at least 12 tons of illegal drugs including ice and heroin. Eight members of Chen's ring received penalties ranging from suspended death sentences to life imprisonment or jail terms.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)