Police in China's southwestern province of Yunnan have seized three suspected drug traffickers and confiscated 162.2 kilograms of liquid heroin, local police source said on Monday.

After two months of probe, Yunnan anti-drug police force captured two suspects on December 25 and found 162.2 kg of liquid heroin in their truck's gasoline tank. The third suspect was arrested on Jan. 1 in the city of Lincang bordering Myanmar.

The haul is the first big case this year in Yunnan, a major route for drugs smuggled out of southeast Asia's drug-flooded "Golden Triangle" region of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Local police said they cracked down another key drug smuggling case last November, capturing two suspects and 110 kg of methamphetamine ice.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)