One of the country's most-wanted suspected drug traffickers was apprehended in Myanmar and returned to China, thanks to successful cooperation between law enforcement departments on both sides of the border, said a police spokesperson on Monday.

The Ministry of Public Security will fulfill its commitment to reward the Myanmar residents who reported Ma's whereabouts and contributed to his capture 50,000 yuan (US$46045.9), said Yang Fengrui, director of the ministry's Narcotics Control Bureau, at a news conference.

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

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

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

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

Yang also revealed that police are on the trail of Liu Zhaohua, another major suspect with a reward of 200,000 yuan (US$24,184) on his head.

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

From the 1990s, China has also helped neighboring countries replace opium poppies with crops such as rice, sugarcane and rubber, as a way of reducing drug supply.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2005)