BEIJING, March 26 (Reuter) China's top police official has called for
tougher efforts to battle drugs, warning that dealers were becoming more
dangerous and the problem was spinning out of control, official media said on
Wednesday.

``Although the struggle against illegal drugs has scored notable
achievements, the situation we are facing is still extremely grim,'' the
People's Daily quoted Minister of Public Security Tao Siju as saying.

China had 520,000 registered drug users in 1995 but the actual figure was
much higher, the newspaper quoted Tao as telling a national antidrugs
conference in Beijing.

``Drugtaking has brought increasingly serious harm to social order and
economic construction,'' the China Daily quoted Tao as telling the
conference.

``Drugrelated crimes are increasing in China and the... worsening
situation has not been effectively controlled,'' Tao said.

Drug dealers had become increasingly difficult to catch because they were
inventing more innovative methods to transport drugs and evade detection, Tao
said.

``Moreover, drug trafficking is already becoming organised and armed,''
Tao said.

Tao called for more efforts to wipe out the planting of
narcoticproducing crops and for greater vigilance along border areas where
drug trafficking had blossomed.

The drug trade had surged this year in southwestern areas such as the
Guangxi region and Yunnan province that border the Golden Triangle of the
major producing countries of Burma, Laos and Thailand, he said.

Border troops in those provinces had seized 218 kg (480 lbs) of heroin
and 30 kg (66 lbs) of heroin from the start of this year to March 17, the
China Daily said.

Soldiers had also arrested 246 alleged drug dealers involved in 189
cases, the newspaper said.

``Chinese frontier troops have drawn up careful plans and intensified
cooperation with troops in neighbouring countries,'' it quoted pubic security
officials as saying.

Chinese police had arrested 324,944 drug offenders from 1991 to 1997,
seizing 21.4 tonnes of heroin and 12.6 tonnes of opium, Tao said.

Nearly 50,000 offenders were sentenced to punishments ranging from jail
terms to death during the period, he said.

Police also found nearly 8.5 tonnes of marijuana and 4.37 tonnes of
``ice,'' or amphetamines during the six years, he said.

Drug abuse, once virtually stamped out after the 1949 communist takeover,
has made a comeback in recent years as marketoriented economic reform has
loosened Beijing's control over people's lives.