Guangzhou seizes 245 kg of drugs, arrests 38 suspects

Guangzhou customs seized a total of 245.3 kilograms of different kinds of drugs after cracking 47 drug smuggling cases by August 29 this year.

And 38 suspects, including a number of foreigners, have been detained after three major drug smuggling gangs were busted, according to Zheng Jun, deputy director of the Bureau of Anti-Smuggling of Guangzhou Customs.

"Customs departments in this Guangdong provincial capital have strengthened Sino-foreign cooperation in the fight against drug smuggling this year, and that has dealt a heavy blow to the drug smuggling activities that used to be active in the southern Chinese region," Zheng told a news conference on Wednesday.

"But we will never relax our vigilance (in fighting the crime)," he said.

Customs officers from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport alone investigated three major drug smuggling cases since the beginning of the year, Zheng said.

In June, an African passenger who had swallowed a total of 100 small bags of drugs was detained when he arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport from Dubai.

The man, who later discharged a total of 1.97 kilograms of drugs from his body, admitted to using his body to smuggle drugs. It is, so far, the largest drug smuggling case which involved using human bodies to smuggle drug.

Meanwhile, customs officers detained two African suspects alleged to be key members of a major drug smuggling ring in June.

A special task force was immediately set up to further investigate when three young Chinese women were detained after ice drug was discovered in their luggage. The women suspects told law enforcers that they were just helping to bring the luggage across the border.

After further investigation, the two foreign suspects were later detained in Foshan and Guangzhou respectively.