Police use unmanned aircraft in anti-drug campaign

Beijing police will use unmanned aircraft to conduct aerial inspections of the mountains around Beijing to detect opium poppy cultivation from June 10 to July 10, the anti-drug department of City Public Security Bureau said on Tuesday.

Ma Guoyun, office director of the anti-drug department, told METRO on Tuesday, that poppy growing had moved to Beijing due to the successful efforts made by Hebei province to restrict cultivation of the plant.

On June 3, Beijing police officially launched an one-month aerial anti-drug operation, during which an unmanned aircraft flew a total of 1,000 sq km over the mountains in the suburbs to detect the plants, Ma said.