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Drugs destroyed to mark Humen Opium Destruction

By Cui Jia in Beijing, Cao Li in Shanghai and Hu Meidong in Fuzhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-03 22:49

Beijing police Wednesday set fire to 393.5 kg of illegal drugs to mark the 170th anniversary of the famous Humen Opium Destruction.

A majority of the banned substances destroyed included heroin, methamphetamine (ice), cocaine and marijuana.

Shi Dawei, the political commissar of the capital's anti-drug committee, said the police Wednesday destroyed "only about half of the drugs they seized" between 2006 and 2008.

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"The police seized more than773 kgof drugs over the three-year period," he said.

On June 3, 1839, Lin Zexu, a senior official of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), ordered that 1,000 tons of smuggled opium, confiscated from foreign dealers in China, be set on fire in Humen,Guangdong province.

The mass opium destruction is known as China's first battle against drugs.

A new memorial hall dedicated to Lin Zexu was also opened to the public in Fuzhou Wednesday.

Beijing police, armed with machine guns, escorted the bulletproof vehicles loaded with drugs to a northwestern suburban area, where the banned substances were thrown into an industrial furnace Wednesday.

Between 2006 and 2008, Beijing's drug enforcement agents uncovered more than 13,860 cases of drug trafficking and captured more than 16,600 suspected dealers, according to the Beijing public security bureau.

Chinahandled about 62,000 cases related to drug trafficking over the past year and arrested some 74,000 suspects across the country, the bureau said.

In the past year, the country's police seized 4.4 tons of heroin, 6.2 tons of "ice", 1 million "ecstasy" pills, 5.3 tons of ketamine, 2.2 tons of marijuana, 1.4 tons of opium and almost a ton of cocaine.

"In recent years, international drug traffickers have found new ways to smuggle drugs into Beijing. Sending drugs across borders via air-mail is the latest trick up their sleeves," Liu Shaowu, deputy director of Beijing anti-drug committee, told China Daily.

"During the Beijing Olympics, 11 foreign smugglers were arrested with 10.9 kg of drugs."

Liu said: "Three underground drug markets inBeijinghave been completely destroyed, and crackdowns on drug dealers will remain one of the bureau's top priorities in the coming years."

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