China, Vietnam pioneer joint crackdown amid drug-trafficking quandary(2)

"It signified our mutual intention and determination to battle the penetration of drugs," he said.

ANTI-DRUG QUANDARY

While China has placed huge resources toward stemming the flow of drugs, new synthetic drugs from China are finding their way into to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, complicating anti-drug trafficking work.

In the joint campaign, Vietnamese police had multiple cases where synthetic drugs imported from China were found.

Li Yue, deputy director with CNNCC's Guangxi branch, said the region has intercepted more than 90 kg of synthetic drugs ready to be transported from Guangxi's Fangchenggang City to Vietnam this year, including 46 kg of meth and 50 kg of ketamine.

Many synthetic drugs are smuggled disguised as coffee, candy, juice and tea. It is more difficult to discover these cases, Li added.

"The smugglers use the new drugs to trade for traditional drugs such as heroin and opium," he said.

Increasingly diverse logistics mean inspections are getting tougher. Adapting to stricter borders, smugglers evolved to use air, sea, mail, or, simply hiding drugs in multiple vehicles carrying vegetables and fruits.

In August 2012, a van loaded with 200-plus boxes of dragon fruit was found hiding 62.2 kg of heroin in Chongzuo City thanks to a tip-off.

"There were so many vehicles constantly passing by we could not have found the drugs if not for the information in advance," said Wang Zhixing, vice captain of Chongzuo's border police.

COOPERATION NECESSARY

As urgency for change mounts, China and Vietnam's joint efforts in controlling cross-border drug trafficking has become glaringly necessary as such cooperation allows for information verification, mutual investigation, exchange of evidence, etc, according to An Guojun.

Liu Feng, captain of the anti-drug trafficking team in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, said that the two countries should step up efforts in building the cooperation mechanism. He urged the two sides to improve the efficiency of information feedback to pave the way for further joint work.

And that is exactly what the countries are doing. Both sides will improve the mechanism by exchanging drug-trafficking situation analysis on a regular basis, while a database that collects the latest crime information will be built to facilitate future work, according to the CNNCC.

"China and Vietnam have pioneered a new model of cooperation in battling drug smuggling, which will serve as a good example for future work between China and other member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," An said.