Drug crimes on the rise in Guangdong

Police across Guangdong province solved 8,077 cases involving drugs, detaining 8,800 suspects in the first five months of this year, a senior drug enforcement officer said.

The number of suspects detained saw a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent, Wang Junke, director of drug enforcement for Guangdong provincial department of public security, said on Monday.

"Meanwhile police seized 2.4 tons of different kinds of drugs, 39 guns and 191 bullets when they destroyed 103 secret drug production bases," Wang said at a news conference.

In 2012, Guangdong police cracked 21,000 drug cases, detaining more than 22,000 suspects, up 11.6 percent and 10.7 percent respectively compared to 2011 figures. And 4.7 tons of drugs were seized, while 228 underground drug production locations were destroyed in the previous year.

According to Wang, new types of drugs, including ice, ketamine and ecstasy, have surpassed traditional drugs in popularity among drug users in the province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Guangdong has registered more than 360,000 drug addicts, about one-sixth of the country's total. The southern province is experiencing an increase of than 40,000 new drug addicts annually.

To deal with the situation, police across the province will strengthen the crackdown on drug-related crimes in the following months, Wang said. Priorities will be given to cracking down on the gangs, organized crime, drug networks and channels, he said.