The Customs in the booming Guangdong Province, which is adjacent to Hong Kong
and Macao, will further expand cooperation with its counterparts in the two
special administrative regions in the fight against drug smuggling.
The province will also enhance its ties with Taiwan in the process.
Guangdong Customs on Tuesday strengthened its resolve to fight drug smuggling
by water after it busted a group operating out of Huangpu Port late last week.
Active in Guangdong, smugglers usually transport the drugs by water to Hong
Kong and Macao and transfer them to Taiwan and other countries or regions in
Southeast Asia.
The provincial customs announced Monday that its Huangpu branch had cracked a
major drug-smuggling operation, seizing 14 kilograms of methamphetamine, which
is commonly known as "ice."
The drugs were estimated to be worth more than 8 million yuan (1 million
U.S.dollars). At least three suspects were detained, who had planned to smuggle
the drugs from Huangpu Port to Taiwan or to other Southeast Asian countries via
Hong Kong.
Huangpu Port is one of the biggest ports on Chinese mainland and is located
at the mouth of the Pearl River.
This is the biggest drug-smuggling case uncovered by Guangdong Customs this
year, a customs official told China Daily.
The case shows that cooperation between customs departments in Guangdong,
Hong Kong and Taiwan can achieve results, he said.
Huangpu Customs has also broken another five car-smuggling operations in
Guangdong waters.
Customs officials seized at least 63 foreign cars and automobile parts valued
at 8.5 million yuan (1.1 million U.S.dollars).
Four suspects were detained for questioning.