Chinese police have seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine from South America in the nation’s biggest ever haul of the drug, authorities said.
Police in Shenzhen have detained 10 suspects, mostly from Hong Kong, following an investigation that began in July last year, the Guangdong Provinvial Public Security Department said.
The statement, released on Tuesday, called it the “biggest amount of cocaine seized in the country.”
Photo: Reuters
Xinhua news agency said the massive haul had a street value of 1 billion yuan (US$160 million).
The drug came from an unidentified South American nation and was shipped to the Guangdong port of Shanwei.
The police statement did not say whether the drug was destined for the Chinese market or another country, but cocaine use is low in China compared with other drugs.
A government report last year found that China had 2.5 million drug users, with 60 percent consuming synthetic drugs, 38 percent using opiates, and 1.4 percent using cocaine and marijuana.
Cocaine originates in the Andes, but China is believed to be one of the main manufacturers of synthetic drugs — including opioids such as fentanyl — which have been blamed for public health crises in the US, Canada and Australia among other nations.
The Shenzhen investigation began after police received a tip related to drug trafficking, the Guangdong statement said.
A month later, a task force learned that gangs were about to conduct a “large-scale” drug delivery. Five suspects, including three from Hong Kong, were detained and 40kg of cocaine were seized.
In February, the investigation led to the arrest of three more suspects and the seizure of another 1,291kg of cocaine.
The two suspected ringleaders were captured in an unidentified foreign country last month and returned to China.
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