China arrests 60,000 and seizes 11 tonnes of narcotics in Xi Jinping's war on drugs

Chinese authorities have arrested 60,500 people for drug crimes and captured 11.4 tonnes of narcotics as part of Xi Jinping's new 'War on Drugs', the country's official news agency reported.

From September to December last year alone, police took on 52,800 drug cases in the campaign entitled "Ban drugs in hundreds of cities", according to Xinhua news agency.

The campaign is set to last until April, revealed the Ministry of Public Security, which also estimated that it had punished approximately 180,000 users up to the middle of last December. Of these, 55,697 have been sent to compulsory rehabilitation centres.

As part of the anti-drug campaign, China is cooperating with regional partners such as Laos, Myanmar and Thailand to prevent drugs reaching China from other areas of Southeast Asia.

The Chinese middle class is increasingly using their disposable incomes to purchase prohibited drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, which are becoming more popular across cities.

Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee, was infamously imprisoned for six months and fined 2,000 yuan for a drug offence, as part of Xinping's crackdown, after police found more than 100g of marijuana in his home.

Jinping's call for a war on narcotics came in June last year and the arrest of several celebrities for drug crimes has sent the message that nobody is immune from the law.