China proposed to establish anti-drug agency within SCO structure

Beijing. June 6. Silkroadnews - The Chinese authorities are going to initiate the establishment of a special agency within the structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to fight cross-border drugs trafficking, TASS reports.
“The agency is expected to coordinate the anti-drug cooperation efforts among SCO members, such as in intelligence sharing, case investigation, joint law enforcement operations and personnel training,” Wei Xiaojun, deputy director of the ministry’s Narcotics Control Bureau, told China Daily.
He did not specify when exactly China expects to form such a structure together with other SCO member states, but noted that the ministry’s senior officials are going to add the issue to the agenda very soon.
According to Wei, China faces a grim situation regarding drugs. Chinese traffickers have colluded with foreign counterparts to operate criminal rings, and drug trafficking has become more “intelligent and technology-based”.
The largest flow of drugs, the official has noted, comes to China from the so-called “Golden Triangle” (the territory of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand), as well as from the “Golden Crescent” (region located in Central and South Asia).
He also expressed concern on growth of production of a number of banned psychotropic substances in the world. For example, last year, the opium production in Afghanistan was estimated at 9,000 metric tons, up by 87 percent year-on-year.
The official emphasized, drug addiction is a terrible social phenomenon, causing enormous damage to the economy and undermining the basis of national security.
“Drug crimes can lead to many other violent crimes. Drug producing and trafficking, transnational organized crimes, illegal fund flow, corruption and terrorism ... all these closely interweave with each other, seriously threatening international and regional stability and development,” Wei Xiaojun summed up.
According to the official statistics, since 2012, the Chinese police have solved over 860,000 cases of drug trafficking, including 16,000 cases of cross-border sale of banned psychotropic drugs. For more than 6 years, China’s law enforcement agencies have detained about 1.1 million people suspected of involvement in the drug business. At the same time, about 460 tons of drugs have been confiscated.