According to official statistics, last year aviation police forces cracked 139 narcotics-related cases, seized 253 criminal suspects, and confiscated over 6,000 tablets of MDMA amphetamine, 25 kg of ephedrine, as well as 73 kg of precursor chemicals.

Drug traffickers brought about "greater troubles" for China's anti-narcotics forces when they, in recent years, began resorting to more and more complicated methods of transporting and trading narcotics, said Deng Ming, a senior public security official from the ministry.

In response to the new circumstance, China's civil aviation police have mapped out new measures to enhance their detective skills and standardize routine safety checks.

Statistics show that by the end of last year, the registered number of drug addicts in China was 860,000, up from 681,000 in 1999.

Last year some 243,000 drug addicts in China were treated at compulsory rehabilitation centers. The growing total was due to the increase in "ice" addicts across the country.

Faced with this grim reality, China's public security minister Jia Chunwang vowed to clamp down on the drug flow from the "Golden Triangle," wipe out drug-smuggling rings and spare no effort to promote a "drug-free society" across the country.

(Xinhua 04/18/2001)