China uncovered 1,481 drug-related cases involving foreign suspects in 2016, the National Narcotics Control Commission said Monday.
A total of 1,876 foreign suspects were caught for drug-related offenses and 6.6 tonnes of drugs were confiscated last year, the commission said, adding that online drug trafficking also grew last year.
In 2016, Chinese police caught 21,000 suspects in a campaign to crack down on online drug trafficking, confiscating 10.8 tonnes of drugs, it said.
China also handled 446 drug-dealing cases in 2016 involving guns, covering 29 provincial level regions, it said.
DRUG-MAKING
According to a report issued by the commission, Chinese police handled 583 cases related to drug production and busted 438 drug-production sites nationwide last year.
The report said police uncovered 33 cases that involved more than a tonne of drugs in 2016, more than double the previous year. There were also 78 cases involving more than 100 kilograms of drugs, a year-on-year increase of 32 percent.
Last year, police uncovered 444 cases of producing, transporting, selling and purchasing chemicals and equipment used in drug production, according to the report.
It also noted that China faces great challenges in controlling new psychoactive substances, saying that despite the country listing 116 psychoactive substances as controlled substances in October 2015, illegal drug producers continue to create new drugs.
COCAINE CASES
Chinese police confiscated 430.6 kg of cocaine in 64 smuggling cases in 2016, according to the report.
Cocaine mainly enters southern China's Guangdong Province and Hong Kong from South America, and by the end of 2016, China had 394 registered cocaine abusers.
The Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia remains the main source for methamphetamine consumed in China, it said.
It also said that the Golden Crescent, which overlaps parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, remains the world's largest area for growing opium and producing heroin.
In 2016, China handled 22 cases involving heroin being smuggled from the Golden Crescent, seizing 24 kg of heroin.
ADDICTION GROWING
According to the report, the number of drug addicts in China is still slowly growing, and there were about 2.51 million drug users in the country as of the end of 2016, an increase of 6.8 percent year on year.
Among them, about 22,000 people were under 18, and more than 1.46 million were aged from 18 to 35, said the report, adding that the percentage of new addicts belonging to these two groups dropped in 2016.
The growth in drug users addicted to heroin slowed in the year, while the number addicted to synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, increased faster, the report said.
About 1.52 million drug users were addicted to synthetic drugs in 2016.
China launched a project to promote community drug detoxification and rehabilitation in 2015. The project has focused on setting up local institutions and recruiting volunteers. About 81,000 staff and volunteers are now working for community-based rehab programs.
China's anti-drug efforts have also intensified. Chinese police arrested 168,000 suspects for drug production or trafficking and solved 140,000 drug-related criminal cases last year.
