China, foreign police jointly crack down on huge heroin trafficking case

Police of China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand have jointly cracked down on a huge heroin trafficking case, the biggest of its kind in the region, announced the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday.

The notorious Han Yongwan cross-border drug-trafficking syndicate was destroyed, said Zhang Chongde, Deputy Director General of the Border Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

Seventy criminal suspects were arrested, 726.8 kilograms of heroin were seized, and illicit money, including more than 600,000 yuan, 22,200 Hong Kong dollars and more than 4.1 million baht, were confiscated.

The police authorities of the four countries destroyed the syndicate's whole drug-trafficking network in China, Myanmar and Laos, seizing 36 guns, six rocket launchers, 33 grenades, 1,586 bullets and two transmitter-receivers, Zhang said.

"It was the biggest heroin trafficking case jointly cracked by Chinese police and its ASEAN counterparts over recent years," said Zhang in an interview with Xinhua.

Han Yongwan, the head of the syndicate and the most notorious drug trafficker in the region, who had fled to and lived in neighboring countries for more than ten years, was finally arrested and repatriated back to China, according to Zhang.

The bust demonstrates the capability of law enforcement cooperation against cross-border drug trafficking under the ASEAN-China drug control system. It was a breakthrough in the fields of information sharing, joint investigation, evidence exchange, and operation coordination, Zhang said.

On November 2, 2004, the General Detachment of Border Control of Yunnan Province was informed that there was a shipment of drugs sent into Chinese territory from Myanmar, and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security immediately instructed Yunnan police forces to put on record the investigation, coded the case "11.02".

On November 6, 2004, Yunnan police forces tracked down and seized 220 kilograms of heroin in two teakwood-loaded trucks coming from Myanmar, and two criminal suspects were arrested on the spot.

The Ministry of Public Security then commanded police forces in different provinces to deepen the investigation. Soon, 11 criminal suspects were arrested and 10.8 kilograms of heroin were seized in provinces of Guangdong and Gansu and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region successively, and two major trafficking syndicates related to Guangdong and Gansu were destroyed.

According to initial investigations, the drug trafficking was organized and planned by a drug lord named Han Yongwan. Originally from Longchuan, Yunnan, Longchuan County of Yunnan Province, Han had engaged in drug trafficking in the border areas between China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand for many years.

He was regarded as one of most dangerous drug lords in northern Myanmar and China after the arrest of drug lord Tan Xiaolin. Since 2000, Chinese police forces have detected various heroin trafficking cases linked to Han. In June 2005, Yunnan police forces issued a wanted order of Han in public, Zhang said.

In September 2005, the General Detachment of Border Control of Yunnan Province got intelligence that a shipment of drugs organized by Han would be transported to Dachileik from Bangkang Myanmar. The China National Narcotics Control Commission sent the information to the Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control immediately and formed a China-Myanmar joint task force to develop investigation.

A total of 992 units (496 kilograms) of heroin organized and transported by Han Yongwan were seized in the Lhashue region of Myanmar on 10 September, 2005. With the close cooperation of police in Laos and Thailand, an absconding Han and his carrier "Ah Shou" were arrested at Huaphan Province of Laos on September 22, 2005. Another five Laotian criminal suspects were also caught.

In the spirit of cooperation, Laos handed over Han Yongwan to Myanmar on September 28, 2005. Myanmar police forces delivered Han Yongwan and "Ah Shou" to China on 2 October.

Source: Xinhua