China, Vietnam pioneer joint crackdown amid drug-trafficking quandary

China and Vietnam will intensify joint cross-border drug trafficking work following massive success in a recent crackdown to curb the toxic trend.

Figures released by China National Narcotics Control Commission (CNNCC)last week showed the two countries captured 3,820 suspects implicated in 3,180 cases regarding illicit drug trafficking since March. A total of 228.4 kg of heroin was confiscated in the four-month-long clamp-down, according to the CNNCC.

"We will continue such cooperation in 2015," An Guojun, deputy secretary-general of the CNNCC told Xinhua.

This is the first time the two countries joined efforts to fight drug trafficking. It comes amid rampant multinational drug smuggling cases along the China-Vietnam border, particularly in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which shares a 1,020-km-long land border with Vietnam.

China stepped up efforts in recent years to control illegal drug transportation in Yunnan Province, the forefront of the country's fight against illegal drugs. Following that clamp down, Guangxi, which boasts many loosely supervised shortcuts linking China and Vietnam, has naturally become a magnet for smugglers.

Official statistics reveal in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Guangxi police nabbed 181 kg, 212 kg and 421 kg respectively of illegal substances in the border area. They mainly came from the Middle East and southeast Asia.

In 2011, Guangxi's border police seized 67.9 kg of heroin. That number surged to 244.8 kg just a year later, prompting an intensified raid in the area. The drugs still flow, however, with local police still seizing 70 kg of heroin in 2013, indicating the severe situation in the area.

Border cities or counties including Dongxing, Pingxiang, Ningming and Daxin face particularly serious situation drug problems, with substances transported to China via Vietnam. According to Guangxi's border police, they usually act as a "transfer stop" for drugs sourced from South-East Asia's "Golden Triangle" and sold in China.

It is under such circumstances that China and Vietnam blazed the trail of cooperation to counter the flood of drugs, An said.