Police detain 50 foreigners for drug use
Fifty foreigners were among 95 people detained by police in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province for suspected drug use, authorities announced.
A total of 491 people who gathered around an overpass culvert north of Shenzhen were taken away by Shenzhen police, who received a tip Sunday morning, the city's Internet Information Office announced on its Sina Weibo account on Monday.
Urine tests showed 118 of them were tested positive for drugs, and most of them had used marijuana, said the announcement.
Two suspected drug dealers were also arrested in Shenzhen's Shekou district through information provided by the alleged drug users. Their nationality was not revealed.
The number of foreigners detained for alleged drug-related offenses last year has risen as a result of a police crackdown and deeper international collaboration, Liu Yuejin, vice commissioner of China National Narcotics Control Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
A total of 1,927 foreigners were arrested and 13 tons of drugs were seized in 2015. The suspects came from 39 countries, including Myanmar, Vietnam, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to the 2015 China Drug Situation Report.
Foreign drug dealers usually obtain Chinese visas by posing as students or refugees, and then sell drugs in China with other compatriots. If they get deported, they change their identity and reapply for a visa, returning to China to continue their trade, news website gmw.cn reported in 2014.
