Police bust massive cross-border drug gang
By Wu Jiachun and Xiao Hua (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-01 05:56

An international drug-trafficking gang has been smashed by China's Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission and its counterpart in Myanmar.

The office said yesterday in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, that it spent three years tracing the ringleader. Most members of the gang are Myanmese.

Last month police in Yunnan learned the gang planned to ship drugs from the northern part of Myanmar through Yangon, capital of Myanmar, to the South China Sea, said Dong Sheng, vice-director of the Narcotics Control Bureau of Yunnan Province.

On May 20, police gave the information to their Myanmar counterparts. On May 24 the alleged ringleaders, two Myanmese brothers named Lu Zhengchang and Lu Zhenglong, were seized in Yangon, together with 102.5 kilograms of the drug "ice," Dong said.

Yunnan police caught two other alleged leaders of the gang, Zhang Guohua and Zhang Guocai, who had escaped to China, on May 26. The capture of another major suspect, Qiu Jiahai, also on May 26, marked what police hope will be the end of the long investigation, Dong declared.

Tin Maung Htay, director of Myanmar's Narcotics Control Commission, said the gang was involved in drug-trafficking for years, causing havoc in many Asian countries and regions. China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea were all destinations for their drugs, with at least 200 kilograms in every shipment.

He said it was a successful example of the two countries' co-operation in this field, and he expected such teamwork to continue.

Meanwhile, suspects involved in another major drug-trafficking operation, between China and Malaysia, have been sentenced to death.

On April 27 last year, 24 Chinese drug producers were seized in Malaysia and China with 22 kilograms of the drug ice and 1,976 kilograms of semi-finished "ice.""

(China Daily 07/01/2005 page3)

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