China, US jointly crack down on transnational drug smuggling ring ahead of Trump's visit

BEIJING: Drug enforcement agencies of China and the US jointly cracked down on a transnational drug smuggling case, arresting five suspects, Chinese authorities said on Monday.

The announcement comes ahead of US president Donald Trump's visit to Beijing this week.

The coordinated operations were conducted in early April between the narcotics control bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and the US Drug Enforcement Administration under the Department of Justice, the ministry said.

The agencies carried out the operations in Liaoning and Guangdong provinces in China, as well as Florida and Nevada in the US, jointly cracking the drug smuggling and trafficking case.

They arrested five suspects: two Chinese nationals and three US nationals, and a batch of drugs, including protonitazene, a synthetic opioid, and bromazolam, a sedative, was seized.

The operation successfully cut off a cross-border drug smuggling and trafficking route between China and the US, the ministry said.

It added that the successful handling of the case marked another major achievement in practical cooperation between drug control law enforcement agencies of the two countries, demonstrating shared determination to crack down on drug-related crimes.

Trump is visiting China from May 13-15 for talks with his counterpart Xi Jinping on a host of issues, including the crackdown on drug smuggling into the US, especially synthetic opioid fentanyl.

For years, the US has been demanding that China crack down hard on the smuggling of fentanyl to the US, which has resulted in the addiction of thousands of American citizens.