China arrests 27 foreigners after heroin seized

BEIJING, Nov 13 (Reuters) China has claimed a big success in its war on drugs, arresting 27 foreigners and seizing more than 50 kg of heroin, state media said today.

Police in the mostly Muslim farwestern region of Xinjiang had broken up 13 huge cross-border drug operations involving 53.1 kg of heroin from the Golden Crescent opium-growing area along the Pakistan-Afghan border -- nearly three times as much as last year's total haul for Xinjiang.

They blamed highly increased cross-border business in Xinjiang for drugs infiltration, Xinhua news agency said.

''It's another victory in the drug infiltration battle,'' Peng Ji, director of the Xinjiang public security bureau, was quoted as saying.

Xinhua did not say when the 27 were arrested or with what they had been charged.

Most of those held were from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Africa, it said. Of the drugs found, some was dissolved in cola drinks cans.

The Golden Crescent has an estimated 110,000 hectares growing opium poppies, making it the world's biggest producer ahead of Golden Triangle, the border area where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet.

REUTERS PDM KP1549