Society

Xinjiang used as point of entry to the country

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-25 08:34

URUMQI - Drug trafficking in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from the neighboring Golden Crescent region continues to rise despite government efforts to combat the problem, officials said.

"We are encouraged by the increasing number of drug smuggling gangs caught each year. At the same time, it shows that international drug trafficking activities in Xinjiang have become more and more active," the director of an anti-drug squad in Urumqi, capital of the region, said on condition of anonymity.

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In Urumqi, 70 percent of the drugs come from the Golden Crescent, according to official figures.

In the most recent case, seven people attempting to smuggle and distribute more than 3 kg of heroin from the Golden Crescent region were caught in April by a border patrol in Xinjiang.

The Golden Crescent region, which encompasses the mountainous regions of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, has become the primary source of drugs in the world.

The drugs squad director said most foreign traffickers use Xinjiang as a point of entry to China before transporting drugs, mainly heroin, to cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Of the 80 drug-related cases cracked in Xinjiang last year, about 60 percent involved heroin.

Xinjiang, whose residents are predominantly Uygurs, has been targeted by foreign separatist, extremists and terrorists who use drug trafficking as a means of funding their activities. Terrorists have also been known to provide protection to drug traffickers and dealers, insiders said.

Police and other authorities in Xinjiang detained 871 people suspected of drug dealing in the first five months of this year, seizing 59.06 kg of heroin in the process.

Last year, a total of 1,317 people were formally arrested for drug-related crimes, a 7 percent rise on the preceding year, according to official figures.

Khunjerab port, the only land route between Pakistan and China, is called the "Golden Channel" by drug smugglers because of its high altitude and proximity to the Golden Crescent,

"Since drug detection equipment doesn't work properly on the plateau, we have to manually check all goods from Pakistan," said a border control officer at the Khunjerab frontier inspection station, which is 5,100 meters above sea level.

"As the first line of defense in stopping drugs from being smuggled into China, we're trying our best to make sure nothing gets through," he added.

"After customs tightened screening for drugs from Pakistan since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, no drugs were seized by customs in 2009 because drug smugglers were afraid of being caught," said Fei Lixin, customs commissioner at Khunjerab.