Drug seizures, gang arrests jump in 2015 amid crackdown on trafficking

Police across Guangdong province intensified their anti-drug trafficking efforts in 2015, seizing more than 37.4 tons of illegal drugs by the end of the December, an increase of more than 70 percent from a year earlier.

Police also detained 37,184 suspects, an increase of 8.5 percent, after cracking 30,932 drug and drug-related cases last year, a slight 0.2 percent, from the previous year.

Lu Feng, director of the general office with Guangdong provincial department of public security, said police also broke up 2,037 drug gangs in 2015, a year-on-year rise of 62.3 percent.

At a news conference in the Guangdong provincial capital on Tuesday, Lu attributed the province's growing drug seizures to enhanced efforts to fight drug crime.

"Both domestic and overseas drug traffickers have never stopped their efforts to build Guangdong into a major drug distribution center," Lu said.

Late last month, police seized 731 kilograms of methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, after busting a major drug lab in Sihui city. Police also seized 1.21 tons of semifinished ice, 226 kilograms of raw materials for meth production, plus tools used to produce the drug, in a special campaign launched on Dec 21.

Deng Jianwei, director of drug enforcement with the Guangdong department of public security, said fighting drug crimes is a long-term and tough task in Guangdong province, which has been the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years.

"Many drug networks and channels still exist after many years of fighting drug-related crimes in the province," Deng said.

Deng hinted that more special campaigns would be launched to fight drug-related crimes in the new year.