Drug authorities in Guangdong Province's Shenzhen destroyed
1,164 kilograms of drugs Thursday to mark International Day Against
Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.
Police and customs officials confiscated the drugs in a total of
1,692 operations in the past year, officials with the municipal
narcotics committee said at a press conference held at the Shenzhen
Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.
A total of 2,233 suspects involved in drug-related crimes were
nabbed in the operations, the press conference was told.
The court sentenced a drug dealer named Qin Xianquan to death at
a public trial on Thursday. Eight other dealers were sentenced to
jail terms ranging from nine months to life.
Li Feng, director general of the municipal public security
bureau, said the city still faced "a grim struggle" in dealing with
drugs.
Drugs are produced and sold in large quantities in Shenzhen, Li
said. Users of new drugs such as ecstasy and Ketamine are
increasing in number. Drug-related crimes, along with the increase
in HIV/AIDS cases, are disrupting social order, he said.
Police sent 11,463 addicts to compulsory drug rehabilitation
centers in the past year, and the city government plans to open
three methadone clinics to help opioid-dependent people stabilize
and improve their lives, said the officials at the press
conference, which was jointly held by the court, the procuratorate,
the municipal public security bureau, and Shenzhen Customs.
The authorities plan to launch a large-scale drug-awareness
drive in June. Activities include distributing CDs about drug
awareness among students, screening films in housing communities
about the dangers of using drugs, and handing out educational
brochures.
More than 100 students of Hongling Middle School will take part
in a drug-awareness event at Moi Square in the Huaqiangbei area
Saturday, the press conference was told.
In another development, three Africans were caught trying to
bring heroin into Shenzhen through Luohu Checkpoint last December,
Shenzhen Customs announced Wednesday. They belonged to the same
drug gang, according to Customs officials.
A Kenyan man, who entered Shenzhen through Luohu Checkpoint at
about 5 p.m. Dec. 12, was found carrying 200 grams of high-purity
heroin in his abdomen. He later admitted he planned to take the
heroin to Guangzhou.
The next day a Ghanaian man was caught carrying 540 grams of
heroin in his trousers.
It took Customs officials nearly 10 hours to confirm that a
Guinean woman was carrying heroin in her body in December last
year, as she claimed that she was pregnant and refused a medical
checkup. But she was later found to be carrying 795 grams of heroin
in her body, Customs officials said.
(Shenzhen Daily June 22, 2007)