Police solved more than 780 drug cases in the first five months of this year, seizing about 900 suspects and 70 kilograms of narcotics, the Shanghai Security Bureau announced over the weekend. Police gave no comparative figures.

Police seized 40 kilograms of heroin, the rest being methamphetamine and ketamine -- the announcement came on the eve of World Anti-Drug Day.

Police officials said they dealt with about 40 drug trafficking cases through railway during the period, 10 on the land and five at customs. Aircraft has also become a major traffic means for suspects to trade drugs as police caught up with 25 suspects and discovered more than 25 kilograms of narcotics they had either hidden inside their bodies or concealed in their baggage.

In 2005, city police solved 55 drug cases involving narcotics weighing over 1 kilogram, an increase of 61.8 percent compared with 2004. Organized and overseas crimes were also on the rise as police seized 33 overseas suspects last year, about 3.7 times as many as in 2004.

To review their campaign ahead of today's global anti-drug campaign, police reported several major cases they have handled so far this year.

The latest capture was on a train from Kunming, Yunnan Province, to Shanghai on Thursday. A man surnamed He was caught hiding 150 grams of heroin. He allegedly told the police he would receive several hundred yuan for the sale. He was questioned in Shanghai.

From last July, railway police held 122 suspected drug traffickers, seizing 4,047 grams of heroin and 2,076 grams of ice.

In January, city police arrested four men at a Pudong hotel seizing 1.5kg of methamphetamine and 300 grams of ketamine. Police confiscated two vehicles, a fake gun, two knives and other tools.

Based on the confession of a chief suspect, police arrested their ringleader, a local man surnamed Wang, in mid-March.

On February 19, police in Minhang and Yangpu districts nabbed three migrant drug dealers identified as Ai, Xia and Ka, seizing heroin weighing more than 3 kilograms.

Last month witnessed two big anti-drug operations. On May 16, acting on a tip from Yunnan, police seized eight suspects and about 7 kilograms of narcotics in Hongkou District. A week later police seized 5.4kg of methamphetamine; two suspects were arrested.

(Shanghai Daily June 26, 2006)