Police in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar, have recently co-operated with the Myanmar Government to crack down on an 18-member drug-trafficking gang, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

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.

The Yunnan police also arrested gang members in Chongqing Municipality; Kunming, capital of Yunnan; and several other cities in Yunnan. Tan 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, police say.

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 drug-traffickers.

(China Daily 06/02/2001)