Customs authorities in the booming southern city of Guangzhou
have discovered 28 kilograms of marijuana leaves concealed in 215
pairs of shoes.
The customs checkpoint at Baiyun International Airport found the
carefully-packed marijuana leaves in a suspicious shipment of five
suitcases and a nylon bag that arrived in Guangzhou from Addis
Ababa aboard flight ET606 on Aug. 6, 2006, but was never declared
at Customs.
When they opened the packages on Jan. 11 this year, officials
found the shipment contained 215 pairs of platform shoes, whose
soles had been hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana leaves.
A spokesman with Guangzhou customs said the city had cracked 85
drug trafficking cases and seized 144 kilograms of drugs since it
tightened scrutiny at major checkpoints last September.
In December, a Guangzhou court sentenced to death Chen Bingxi,
50, a notorious drug kingpin, for producing, selling and
transporting at least 12 tons of illegal drugs including ice and
heroin. Eight members of Chen's ring received penalties ranging
from suspended death sentences to life imprisonment or jail
terms.
(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)