Major Chinese drug trafficker caught and handed over to China

One of China's most-wanted drug trafficking suspects was apprehended in Myanmar and returned to China, thanks to the successful cooperation between law enforcement departments of both countries, said a Chinese police officer Monday.

China's Ministry of Public Security will fulfill its commitment to offer the Myanmar residents who reported Ma's whereabouts and contributed to his capture 50,000 yuan (6045.9 US dollars) as reward, said Yang Fengrui, director of the ministry's Narcotics Control Bureau, at a news conference.

Ma, a Chinese national from Dali Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province, was among the five names on China's list of top drug trafficking suspects announced last November.

The ministry offered a total reward of 380,000 yuan (45,949 US dollars) for clues about the five suspects. The other four, Liu Zhaohua, Luo Youwen, Qiu Heshui and Liu Shaotong, are still at large.

Ma, caught on Jan. 8, confessed that he had smuggled 60 kilograms of heroin in five times between 1993 and 2001.

In March of 2001, Ma tried to smuggle 21 kilograms of heroin to China's southern city Guangzhou. His accomplice was caught in the midway, but he escaped and was on the run for three years.

Yang Fengrui also revealed that the police has spotted the trails of Liu Zhaohua, another major suspect wanted with a reward of 200,000 yuan (24,184 US dollars) for reporters.

In recent years, China has stepped up anti-drug cooperation with Myanmar, Thailand and Laos by strengthening intelligence exchanges and helping them train police.

From the 1990s, China has started to help neighboring Asian countries replace opium poppies with ordinary crops such as rice, sugarcane and rubber, as a way of rooting out drug sources.

Source: Xinhua