The expansion of poppy growing in recent years has created problems around the globe.
Even at one of the most remote border inspection stations in the world, the frontier guards must be vigilant against drug traffickers.
Hongqilafu, Zinjiang lies along the border of China and Pakistan at an altitude of 5,100 meters (almost 17,000 feet).
The oxygen at this altitude is less than half of sea level. This is where China’s Hongqilafu border station stands.
In the last few years, more drugs have been smuggled across the Sino-Pakistani border because of the expansion of poppy growing in Afghanistan.
In fact, United Nations statistics show that 87% of all illegal heroin in the world comes from Afghanistan.
Li Shengyu, commander of the Hongqilafu Border Inspection Station says, “They need buyers for the huge amount of drugs. As far as we know, the drug dealers are targeting China as a new market and plan to make their way into China across the border at Hongqilafu.”
Between 2006 and 2008, huge amounts of drugs were intercepted at border stations. The Chinese border guards must be vigilant to discover hidden drugs among the tourists coming into China.
Learn about the 19th Century Opium Wars
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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