Chinese police report more seizures of party drugs

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police seizures of party drugs have more than doubled this year, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, reflecting the increasing use of such drugs.

In the first 11 months of the year, Chinese police detained 60,000 suspects, netting 2 million Ecstasy tablets, 6.2 tons of "ice" and 5.2 tons of Ketamine, Xinhua said, citing the Ministry of Public Security.

The Ketamine haul quadrupled compared with the same period last year, while Ecstasy seizures doubled.

"This was partly because of the campaign we launched this year, but we have also seen the increasing use of new drugs," Xinhua cited Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the Ministry's drug control bureau, as saying.

Throbbing nightclubs with lines of black cars waiting outside are an increasingly common sight in Chinese cities, with the most popular clubs booking international DJs and a well-heeled crowd.

Police have focused on monitoring and testing facilities to curb trafficking across China's borders with Southeast and Central Asia, Liu said, adding that the drug trade from the Golden Crescent has become more active.

In the first 11 months of this year, police also seized 4.2 tons of heroin and 1.1 tons of opium, Xinhua said. Heroin seizures were down nearly 21 percent.

Early this year, police in the border province of Yunnan broke up a drug smuggling network run by a man known as "Big Brother Yang" that operated in southwest and northeast China. As part of the investigation, they uncovered the murder of one smuggler by his accomplices to get packed drugs out of his stomach, Liu said.

China's communists nearly eliminated drug use after taking power in 1949 and blamed opium addiction as a holdover from China's weakness and defeats by colonial powers during the late Qing dynasty.

But drugs have made a comeback in the last two decades, as the party's rigid controls over society have gradually eroded.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby, editing by Ken Wills and Sanjeev Miglani)