Patrol ships returned Guanlei in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday afternoon after a cross-border joint drug control mission on the Mekong River.

It was the 47th joint patrol by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on the Mekong.

The Lancang-Mekong stretches nearly 5,000 km through Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Lancang is the Chinese name for the upper reaches of the river.

Regular patrols along the river have been going on since December 2011 after the murder of 13 Chinese sailors by a gang in Thai waters.

Drug crime is a huge problem in the region. China has taken the initiative in international anti-drug operations and countries along the river have realized that only when they cooperate can they cope with the problem. China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have set up the Safe Mekong Coordination Center to manage the issue and China has set up eight border offices to make communication easier. Regularly meetings exchange anti-drug experiences and information, and discuss cooperative programs and cases.

"Without cross-border cooperation, we cannot combat drug crime so efficiently along the river," said Luo Jiagui, an officer with the Yunnan border police.

Guo Bao, deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department, said the joint patrols had seized a total of 9.8 tonnes of drugs since 2013. In 2015, they dealt with 8,919 drug cases, arrested over10,000 suspects and seized 0.5 tonnes of methamphetamine crystals, 100 million methamphetamine tablets, 1.3 tonnes of heroin and 295.5 tonnes of precursor chemicals.

China provides technological assistance and training for the countries to help them improve their law enforcement capacity. Since 2002, Yunnan and Guangxi police colleges and Guangxi drug-control detachment have trained more than 1,200 officers for Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodian, said Guo Bao. They have become main force in cross-border drug control, Guo said.

Non-governmental anti-drug cooperation has also made progress. For example, the Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan set up a China-Myanmar civil joint drug control center in December 2014 in the China-Myanmar border city of Ruili. So far, the center has organized 15 training sessions, provided 53 lectures for people from both nations, busted 18 drug dens and seized 5.12 kilograms of drugs.

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