China will launch a special national network database for exchanges of information about drug-related cases across the country, Zhang Xinfeng, vice-minister of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), said in Beijing Tuesday.

"China will input relevant information into this database within two months and we hope police nationwide will be able to hunt for helpful information through it by October," said Zhang at an MPS conference on the setup of the database.

The network will focus on collecting information about suspected drug traffickers at large, said Zhang.

All information about suspects relating to drug trafficking collected in recent years, especially in 2005, will be put into the database.

China prosecuted 43,000 drug related criminal cases and arrested 32,000 relevant suspects in the first half of 2005. Police seized a total of 4,279 kilograms of heroin, 1,085 kilograms of opium, 2,148 kilograms of methamphetamines and 272, 000 pieces of MDMA in the first half of this year.

"The on-line database will help police nationwide share information about drug suspects to fight actively and forcefully against drug related crimes," Zhang added.

Source: Xinhua