Cooperation boosts war on drugs along Mekong_美文

Cooperation boosts war on drugs along Mekong

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China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand launch action against traffickers

Narcotics officers assigned to a four-nation campaign against smuggling on the Mekong River say reducing red tape and improving communication is boosting the war on drugs.

China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand launched the action on April 19, aiming to protect merchant sailors and residents along the major trading route through Southeast Asia.

It involved setting up a command center staffed by drug enforcement agents from all four countries in Yunnan province's Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture.

The base is used to share intelligence and analysis, and plan actions during the campaign, which runs until June 20.

"It is a great benefit to cooperation between the countries," said Lan Weihong, a Chinese officer with the Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Department, who is stationed at the command center.

Occupying a 20-square-meter room on the second floor of a hotel in Jinghong, the center is staffed by more than 10 officers. Two maps of the Mekong River and the four countries hang on its walls.

"The campaign has helped us learn more about drug trafficking in each country and is convenient for us to get feedback," Lan said. "We can quickly verify information, much faster than before."

Previously, he explained, if Chinese border police uncovered evidence of drug trafficking or needed help from the neighboring countries, they had to draw a draft outline of their investigation and send it to their counterparts over the border.