Traffickers use internet, logistics to aid activities

Logistics and express mail companies have become major drug-trafficking channels, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

With the development of the internet and the logistics industry, drug traffickers use fake names and conceal the drugs in parcels and goods before smuggling them, Liu Yuejin, deputy head of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, said.

Figures provided by the ministry show that last year police uncovered 1,499 cases of drug smuggling involving mail express or logistics companies. They captured 1,789 suspects and confiscated 12 metric tons of drugs, a yearon-year rise of 180 percent.

Of those 12 tons, police seized 10 tons from logistics channels, five times more than in 2016.

“International logistics and express delivery have become the most popular ways for cross-border criminal gangs to smuggle marijuana and khat into China, and for Chinese to smuggle drugs overseas,” Liu said.

China borders a major drug source — the Golden Triangle, which straddles Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

More than 85 percent of illegal drugs in the Chinese market come from the Golden Triangle, the ministry said.

According to Wei Xiaojun, deputy director of the ministry’s Narcotics Control Bureau, Chinese dealers collude with foreign accomplices to traffic drugs.

The internet has become an increasingly important platform for them to make contact and disseminate drug–related information.

“Traffickers operate online to make deals — including placing orders, purchasing the raw materials to make drugs, transferring funds and recruiting employees — which makes it difficult for us to collect and verify evidence,” he said.

He added that the police will strengthen intelligence sharing and joint investigation cooperation with other affected countries, including those in Southeast and Central Asia, to smash major drugtrafficking rings, arrest behind-the-scenes drug lords and completely sever their chain of interest.