By K J M VarmaBeijing, Dec 17 (PTI) Police in southwest China todayclaimed to have busted a cross-border drug-smuggling gangafter apprehending 37 people, including four from Myanmar whohad swallowed 183 packets of cannabis that was sneaked intothe country.
The four Myanmarese were caught in Yinbin City police inSichuan Province caught in May when during a regular checkpolice officers found them behaving suspiciously.
When their medical examination was carried out, a numberof thumb-size shadows were discovered in their stomachs in thex-ray, they said.
The four suspects eventually excreted 183 plastic drugpackets, weighing a total of 916 grammes, the state-run Xinhuanews agency reported.
The drugs included heroin, methamphetamine and yaba (astimulant composed of methamphetamine and caffeine), it added.
Police investigation revealed that the four men had beenasked to smuggle the drugs from Myanmar to Chongqing and werepromised 260 yuan (USD 40) for each packet transportedsuccessfully.
The other gang suspects were caught in Chongqing City andYunnan over the past few months, the police said, adding amongthe 37 suspects, six were Myanmarese.
So far, police in the case have seized more than 440grammes of methamphetamine, 26 grammes of yaba, over one kg ofheroin and eight guns, the report said.
In a separate development, China's customs staff andpolice officers have caught 13 people and seized more than5,200 pieces of smuggled mink fur from them.
The joint operation was launched by the customs and thepolice from the cities of Nanning, Shenzhen and Shijiazhuang,according to officials.
The suspects confessed to illegally transporting 1.85lakh pieces of mink fur, worth around 72 million yuan (USD 11million), since July through the China-Vietnam border, Nanningcustoms officials said.
The fur was purchased by Chinese buyers at overseasauctions. They were then delivered to provinces includingHebei, claimed as wool or clothes, they said.
The customs said that the gang was suspected of evadingtariffs of around 17 million yuan (approximately USD 2.5million).
High-end mink is usually imported with high duties. Thishas led smugglers using fake commodity names or to report lowprices to evade tariffs, according to the customs.
Officials have warned that smuggled animal fur can carrypathogenic micro-organisms, which can spread diseases. PTI KJVKISKIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.