Guangzhou Customs hands seized meth over to Australian authorities

Police in Ningming, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, burn 1 metric ton of confiscated narcotics on Monday. The drugs, including heroin, were seized along the China-Vietnam border since the start of 2013. LI BIN / XINHUA

Authorities from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, announced on Monday that customs officials from the capital recently handed over 40 grams of methamphetamines to help Australian police officers prosecute a drug suspect in the commonwealth country.

Though the package of meth handed over as evidence was just a smidgen of a larger haul of drugs seized from parcels by Guangzhou Customs last year, the significance of the handover was great: It was the first time that Chinese customs officials had handed over drugs or related evidence to an overseas authority via an international channel of cooperation.

"The exchange has established a precedent for China's international cooperation in delivering evidence to fight cross-border drug trafficking and related crimes," said a statement from Guangzhou Customs.

In recent years, Guangzhou Customs has expanded its cooperation with the United States, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and with the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions to tackle the smuggling of drugs through the mail.

Since October, Guangzhou Customs officers have arrested 31 foreigners suspected of smuggling drugs through parcels in the southern metropolis. Officials said the arrests of foreign drug smugglers are on the rise each year and that they mostly come from Africa and Southeast Asia.

In May, Guangzhou Customs seized roughly 7,981 grams of methamphetamines, known as ice, that were hidden in four parcels of tea leaves destined for Australia. All of the parcels were mailed to one receiver at one address in Australia.

After the seizure, Guangzhou Customs informed their Australian counterparts and sought a way to work together to track down the traffickers. On May 24, Guangzhou Customs detained two suspects and seized a number of materials involved in the drug-smuggling case.

With information provided by Guangzhou authorities, Australian police detained a suspect in Sydney on the same day after they used a similar parcel of tea to attract the receiver.

But without enough evidence to prosecute the suspect, Australian police asked Guangzhou Customs to ship some of the meth they had seized. The Australian suspect never admitted to receiving drugs sent by Chinese drug traffickers.

Luo Yinbo, deputy chief of Guangzhou Customs, said his department has solved 50 major drug cases, dismantled seven gangs, seized 106 kg of drugs and arrested 42 suspects in its latest campaign to clamp down on drug smuggling through parcels.

Guangzhou Customs said they found drugs stored in mailed packages of rock sugar, in a pot of plastic flowers, in the hems of dresses and stored in the limbs and heads of dolls.

Of 178 drug-smuggling cases solved by Guangzhou officers last year, 105 involved mailed items or courier packages.

Courier services have become primary channels for international drug rings, which makes it difficult to gather evidence because neither the sender nor receiver is present, said Luo, who added that fake mailing information is often used.

Guangzhou Customs now require courier companies to check all parcels before they are shipped and offer companies training to detect drugs in packages.