Police Seize 56 Tons of Illicit Drugs in Raids Over 3 Months

(Beijing) — Police have arrested 400 suspects nationwide and confiscated 56 tons of narcotics and chemicals used for making synthetic drugs during a crackdown in the past three months, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Law enforcement officials have dismantled 60 underground drug rings linked to 48 major drug hauls discovered between February 22 and the end of May, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

Police have seized 9.5 tons of synthetic drugs and 46 tons of ingredients used for illicit drug manufacturing, the ministry said.

The crackdown on illicit drugs came after authorities admitted that China supplies a significant portion of the world’s psychoactive substances produced in so-called “drug labs.”

In recent years, synthetic drugs developed by chemists in China were mostly being consumed by overseas drug users, according to Wei Xiaojun, a deputy director of the general office of the China National Narcotics Control Committee, a taskforce made up of multiple government agencies.

The Chinese government’s efforts to crack down on drug abuse has been hampered by the huge variety of psychoactive substances available on the market and a rise in global demand, said Liu Zhimin, a vice director of Peking University’s National Institute on Drug Dependence.

An illicit drug factory in Chongqing on March 10.

By December 2014, some 540 types of chemical substances prone to abuse were not listed as restricted drugs by international conventions, including the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs established in 1975, according to Liu. Data from 2014 is the latest information available.

China’s recent war on illicit drugs has targeted operations churning out substances that can be used to make synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, a synthetic drug better known as Ice.

Law enforcement officers have inspected farms, chemical warehouses and premises in remote areas which could be turned into underground drug labs, the ministry said.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com)