A top border police official said yesterday the authorities had
handled nearly 2,000 drug-smuggling cases, arrested over 2,000
criminal suspects and seized approximately 1.9 tons of drugs in the
first half of this year.
Police also stopped around 4,500 attempts to smuggle drugs
across China's borders, arrested about 5,100 suspects and seized
4.5 tons of drugs in 2005, Chen Weiming, director of the Ministry
of Public Security's frontier management bureau told reporters.
The value of the drugs seized in 2,500 cases since July 2005,
Chen said, was 240 million yuan (US$30 million). He added that more
than 1,100 Chinese were caught trying to leave the country
illegally in the first six months of the year, a drop of 28 percent
compared with the same period last year.
"Border police also effectively stemmed Chinese citizens
crossing borders for gambling and logging," Chen said. In addition,
more than 1,300 Chinese were caught trying to cross the border
illegally in the second half of last year, a 15 percent decrease
year-on-year, he said. "The trend of a high incidence of Chinese
citizens' illegal emigration was effectively stopped," Chen
said.
Police along China's 22,000 kilometers of land borders with 14
neighboring countries and along more than 18,000 kilometers of
coastline are on constant guard against those who might try to
cross the border illegally, he said.
(China Daily July 19, 2006)