Drug users estimated at 14m aided by Web sales
Drug-related crimes on the Internet have been rising in China, a burning issue that could be partly tackled by making Internet service providers more accountable and providing specific judicial interpretations, a drug control official said on Wednesday.
Drug smuggling has become organized and professional, often carried out in covert and cunning ways through multiple and constantly changing channels, including courier services and through the Internet, according to the Chinese government's first report on the country's drug situation released on Wednesday, two days before the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
With the extensive reach of social media and e-commerce platforms aided by growing smartphone usage, Internet-based drug-related crimes now cover the entire chain of drug trafficking - drug manufacturing, trading and use.
"Online communication, payment and delivery" has become a new trafficking mode, Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the China National Narcotics Control Commission told a press conference on Wednesday.
More young people have been drawn to the crime. China arrested 169,000 drug crime suspects last year, 60 percent of whom were under the age of 35, he said.
By the end of 2014, China had 2.96 million registered drug addicts. Estimates have it that the total number of drug users exceeds 14 million, which means one out of 100 Chinese may have used drugs, he added.
Internet-based drug crimes
The report said suspected drug pushers and addicts communicate through instant messenging, open online stores, pay through online payment systems and deliver drugs through courier services.
"Such approaches pose as a challenge to law enforcement agencies," the report pointed out.
The government is expected to make Internet service providers more accountable, and the Supreme People's Court as well as the National People's Congress are expected to provide judicial interpretations on the conviction standard and punishment specific to "the new criminal patterns," said Liu.
"The Internet provides suspected drug criminals fast and covert access to drugs. Residing in different provinces, they often communicate in an online chat room or use jargon in their posts, which have made it difficult for the police to identify them," a Beijing-based police officer from a drug-control squad, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times.
In December 2014, the police launched a campaign against Internet drug crimes, identifying nearly 100 chat groups on Tencent QQ, an instant messaging service, and about 2,000 QQ accounts. The police seized or monitored more than 700 suspects all over China as well as in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
