Tan Xiaolin, 39, head of the gang, was arrested in Myanmar on April 20 and was handed over to the Yunnan police three days later. At the same time the Yunnan police also arrested gang members in Chongqing Municipality, Kunming, capital of Yunnan, and several other cities in Yunnan.

Tan, who illegally went to Mynamar in 1993, gathered together a group of drug traffickers around the border of China and Myanmar in 1995 and has been shipping drugs from the north of Myanmar to inland China and other places through Yunnan.

Within a short period of time, Tan became one of the biggest drug tycoons threatening China in northern Myanmar.

In recent years, Yunnan police have been co-operating with the Myanmar national drug-elimination commission, providing them with the names of gang members, and requesting their help in apprehending the drug-traffickers.

This year Yunnan police sent forces to closely monitor the activities of Tan and informed the Myanmar side of Tan's whereabouts.

Since 2000, police in Dehong and Baoshan in Yunnan police have made arrests in 14 drug-trafficking cases organized by Tan's gang and have seized over 3 tons of heroin and 28 vehicles used by the gang for drug trafficking.

In the first five months of this year, the Yunnan police have caught over 4,900 people alleged to have been trafficking in drugs and have seized 5 tons of drugs.

(chinadaily.com.cn 06/02/2001)