U.S. and Chinese authorities have dismantled a major drug trafficking network responsible for smuggling more than 100 million U.S. dollars worth of heroin into the U.S. George Dwyer has more details.
Officials in Beijing announced the arrests of 28 suspects across Asia and the United States during a May 16th operation.
Yang Fengrui (FUNG-RWAY), Director of China’s Narcotics Control Bureau, said Thursday the drug trafficking network was based in the Fujian Province of China. He said the suspects had been arrested in China, India, and Hong Kong as well as the United States.
The arrests followed the seizure of more than 40 kilograms of heroin in the Chinese city of Fuzhou. (FUDO)
Jimmy Tse, from the Beijing Office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, called the operation “outstanding”:
JIMMY TSE, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
“It uprooted the entire link of drug traffickers that existed in the source area, in transit countries and also in distribution points in the United States. I have rarely seen a case that had all three parts in place.”
Since the early 1990s, China has become a major narcotics transit route for heroin and other illegal drugs from neighboring Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Last year, officials prosecuted about 110,000 drug-related cases and arrested almost 90,000 suspects.