Search and arrests

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00:00

MCDONELL: We're told China's off the boil - well here's a trade that's going absolute gang-busters.

00:03

Arrest of woman

 "She's successfully brought drugs across the border before and this is the second time she's done it".

00:10

Drug montage.  Party shots

The drug trade - flooding in to propel China's party scene and chasing all that new money.

00:14

Methamphetamine, ecstasy, heroin - tons of it, as drug culture spreads like wildfire.

00:24

McDonell holding bag of drugs, with man

"If you can get these drugs to Australia, you can imagine how much more profit there would be".

00:32

Driving to Myanmar border

Music

00:38

MCDONELL:  We're heading to seldom seen corners of this dramatically changing place as Foreign Correspondent investigates the other China boom, one that leads all the way to our own front door.

00:42

Barge on river

00:59

McDonell on barge

This is remote dramatic territory. A river forming part of a border that runs for thousands of kilometres between China and its emerging neighbour, Myanmar - what we used to call Burma. You might expect large fences and guards on patrol, but here the official borders of countries mean little to people who've travelled and intermingled for centuries.

01:05

McDonell on barge to camera

"Well this is a pretty porous border. As you can see there are lots of people moving back and forth across the river. We've just walked down here, jumped on the first boat there was, paid the guy, come along and here we are, now I'm in Burma!"

01:35

Unloading boats

Music

01:51

MCDONELL:  There's a brisk trade here. Myanmar has been opening up and China has an ever growing affluence. Yet to buy Chinese goods, poor Burmese farmers need money and in order to get money some are prepared to transport a very dangerous cargo to the north. With not an official in sight, the potential to ferry illegal drugs across points like this is clearly substantial.

"None of the people here speak Chinese so I

01:57

McDonell on barge

can't ask them how busy it is down here normally, but it seems like it's just boat after boat coming through and the trucks are bringing goods from Burma across to China and also back in the other direction".

02:34

View of bank from barge/McDonell on barge

The home of the Golden Triangle, Myanmar has long been a major source of the world's heroin. Now, on top of that, there are new drugs coming out of here and via China they'll end up as far away as Australia. So we've come here to follow the drugs and to gauge the size of a problem considered so serious it's recently led to joint operations by Australian and Chinese police.

02:47

Myanmar hill scenery

03:21

PROFESSOR WU JIANG: "The factories which produce drugs have increased..

03:29

Prof Wu Jiang

In other words they once produced heroin but now they've changed to produce ice-type drugs, amphetamine-type drugs"

03:37

MCDONELL: Former police officer Professor Wu Jiang is now one of China's foremost experts on the drug trade.

03:45

Myanmar hills

We ask him if Myanmar's increased ice production is in direct response to Chinese consumption.

PROFESSOR WU JIANG: "That's correct. It's because of supply and demand. The key point is they must know there are so many people in China who are selling drugs.

03:52

Prof Wu Jiang. Super:
Professor Wu Jiang
Yunnan University

They've established networks with them. There are also a lot of unspotted drug users... so many invisible drug users. There's a market, otherwise they wouldn't produce them".

04:10

Yunnan general views

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04:24

MCDONELL: Yunnan Province is a lush green corner of China. Its remote location has spared it the excesses of development.

04:30

Ruili general views

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04:43

MCDONELL:  Here you can find the bustling border town of Ruili. Part of it has been given special economic zone status to try and boost commerce between China and Myanmar.

04:49

Young Burmese men on street

Here, Burmese workers can be seen in droves looking for work in local factories. Others come to do business. There are plenty of visitors with all the right paperwork, but countless numbers without.

05:03

Border fence tracking shot/People coming through fence

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05:19

MCDONELL:   The border fence in the middle of town is dotted with large holes so we sit across from one of these illegal entry points and watch. Through they come, one after another. Some pause first to check - others just race through. This is only 100 metres from the main official entry point and in broad daylight, they cross and they cross and they cross.

05:22

McDonell approaches border fence

We decide to approach the young men on the Myanmar side of the border for a chat and speak to them through a translator.

06:01

McDonell speaks with Burmese men

"I want to know, have a lot of people come through here lately in order to sell drugs? [men shake head] Aren't any? Aren't any here?"

MEN VIA INTERPRETER: "They're not coming through this actual door".

MCDONELL: "I'm not talking so much about this particular entrance but crossing this border. Could you ask them where along the border?"

06:10

It seems they want to defend the credibility of this particular illegal entrance to China.

06:36

MEN VIA INTERPRETER: "Ah... you have to go 105 yards that way".

MCDONELL: "Another place".

MEN VIA INTERPRETER: "Another place".

06:43

MCDONELL: "How many people do they think would cross the border here every day?"

06:48

MEN VIA INTERPRETER: "There are many. Every day two or three hundred".

MCDONELL: If anything,

06:53

Burmese walk through border fence

a few hundred daily crossings would be an under estimation. Dozens come through in just the short time we're here.

07:02

Drugged men lying around

If drug trafficking is sky rocketing as suspected, then it must hit these border communities first as it winds its way north.

07:13

Night time shots

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07:22

MCDONELL: So we go looking for someone who knows the local trade. We meet a young man who's prepared to talk about the drug situation in Ruili on condition of anonymity.

07:24

"Drug usage here... is it becoming more serious?"

07:40

McDonell with Ruili man

RUILI MAN: "The number of drug dealers doesn't seem to change much but there are many more drug users".

MCDONELL: "How many more than before? Twice as many?"

07:45

RUILI MAN: "Right, nearly two times more".

07:56

Night time tracking shots

MCDONELL: He tells us that those using drugs regularly in the town vary from Chinese to Burmese, some are students, some are business people.

07:59

Music

08:11

McDonell with Ruili man

MCDONELL:  "Where are the drugs sold? In a secret place?"

RUILI MAN: "It's not necessarily a secret place - just a place where police don't show up".

08:16

MCDONELL: "So you can see drug dealing on the street?"

RUILI MAN: "Yes, you can".

MCDONELL: "Could you show me where?"

RUILI MAN: "Yes".

08:33

Driving around Ruili

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08:41

MCDONELL: He guides us through Ruili, down this town's small vibrant streets to a particular little corner. And soon after we arrive, the customers are turning up.

08:47

People on street waiting for drugs

This man walks across the street to a doorway which will be very busy tonight. He indicates the quantity and in front of a small child, he hands over cash in exchange for drugs. Then he goes off to find somewhere safe to take them.

09:04

Drug transactions

This is a humming part of town and many will go through this doorway. We can't see what's going on inside but there's plenty of movement in the street. A man in green waits outside. Eventually a woman in white emerges and approaches him. Again it's money going one way and drugs the other. She counts his change and then hands it over. As soon as the coast is clear, he walks away.

09:38

Given the ease with which we've spotted these transactions, it's hard to imagine that the local authorities are not fully aware of this situation.

10:16

The man in green likes what he's seen so he comes back for more. These are only small purchases but Chinese police statistics cast them in a much bigger light.

10:28

Drug transactions continue

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10:39

MCDONELL:  Nearby, Burmese poppy cultivation was up by 33.8% last year, the equivalent of 60 tons of heroin. In 2012 local Yunnan police seized 9 tons of ice coming out of Myanmar - 26% more than the year before. And the deals keep coming.

10:43

In full public view the drugs are prepared. The preferred method of consumption here is smoking - even for heroin and methamphetamine. Yet, increasingly, in what was once a heroin zone, this is now becoming an ice town.

11:09

PROFESSOR WU JIANG: "Comparatively speaking, it's easier to access. It's easier to buy from the market. It's comparatively cheap.

11:31

Prof Wu Jiang

The consumers are many young people. Among them it can form a kind of culture - a smoking subculture".

11:46

Travelling shots

12:02

MCDONELL: The roads out of Ruili are all heading north and for drugs being smuggled into China, there is a well-trodden path. For most, the first stop is the regional capital where onward distribution will be organised.

"I'm here at the Kunming Narcotics Bureau.

12:07

McDonell outside Kunming Narcotics Bureau

There are more than a 160 police here. Apparently this is the largest drug squad in China and we've been invited here to come and have a chat.

12:25

McDonell meets with Wang Zheng Long

Wang Zheng Long is a young intelligence officer and to give us an idea of how busy they've been, he shows us some of the drugs police have confiscated lately.

12:36

Looking at bags of drugs

"These are real drugs that you've seized. Am I correct?"

WANG ZHENG LONG: "That's correct. They are real.

12:50

This is opium".

MCDONELL: "Opium?

12:58

So people have secretly brought this in from overseas - or produced the drugs in China?"

WANG ZHENG LONG: "No. These drugs are all from overseas. We've seized them in China".

MCDONELL: "So they are from Myanmar?"

13:02

WANG ZHENG LONG: "Right, yes".

MCDONELL: "They've come from Myanmar to be sold in China?"

WANG ZHENG LONG: "Right, right".

13:20

Looking at drugs continues

MCDONELL: We see Ketamine, also known as Special K and a pillow case of morphine. There's heroin cut into blocks for convenient concealment and in smaller pieces to fit into a condom for internal body secretion.

13:27

Chinese police seized 7.3 tons of heroin last year but methamphetamine was double that. In 2012 ice seizures went from 14 to over 16 tons and we're shown large bags of it in various levels of purity.

13:44

"So, if I wanted to sell these here, how much would they be worth?"

WHANG ZHENG LONG: "Sell them all?"

MCDONELL: "Yes".

WHANG ZHENG LONG: "At once?"

14:06

They sell for around 50 Yuan a tablet".

MCDONELL: "50 Yuan for one.

14:13

Ten thousand tablets at ten bucks a pop so I'm holding a hundred thousand dollar's worth of drugs here. It's quite a bit".

14:17

Of course that's the price in Yunnan Province. The further these narcotics are transported from the border, whether it be inside machine parts, hollowed out shoe heels or wooden artefacts, the more profit there is to be made, as the price doubles and triples upon arrival in China's mega cities.

1:23

Night time Shanghai

Music

14:46

MCDONELL: " Shanghai is the gleaming citadel at the heart of China's booming East coast. It's a massive port town, a thriving business centre, a magnet for foreigners and home to some 23 million people. If you were going to build a city to promote the drug trade in China, it'd probably look like Shanghai.

14:54

This metropolis is an affluence factory - to the point where it's mocked by the rest of China for having such a superficial and greedy outlook.

15:26

But, when it comes to drug taking, many analysts think a much more important factor than disposable income is a new found social acceptance of drugs and not only here.

15:39

Young people drug taking

There was a time not so long ago when it was hard to find a young person in China who'd taken illegal drugs. Their friends would have thought they were freaks, but in many circles now, it's seen as a totally normal and acceptable practice.

15:53

Music

16:11

SHANGHAI MALE EX USER: "When I arrived at a friend's home they put several kinds of stuff on the table. They told me, "It's fine to take this - it's different from heroin - you won't get addicted to it"... etcetera. So I started taking it".

16:19

MCDONELL: "What kind of drugs were they?"

16:37

SHANGHAI MALE EX USER: "It was ice".

16:40

Night time Shanghai

Music

16:44

Woman walking down street

MCDONELL: We meet a Shanghai woman who, at one time, got into methamphetamine. And why not? The feelings were great, she was with her friends and having the time of her life.

16:50

Night time Shanghai

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17:00

SHANGHAI WOMAN EX USER: "We thought it was fun and fashionable to take drugs - so we wanted to keep up with the trend.

17:06

Woman in silhouette

Most of all, we didn't see the harm in it. We thought it was different from heroin and we wouldn't get addicted. So I took it again and again".

17:17

Young people out on town

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17:33

MCDONELL: It's Friday night in Shanghai so naturally the kids are heading out to play.

17:41

Music

17:45

MCDONELL:  It was probably inevitable that as China opened up to all things foreign, illegal drugs would eventually spread through cities like this in larger numbers.

17:50

Music

17:59

MCDONELL: And as this is a country that doesn't know how to do things in half measures, when you're into it, you're into it!

18:06

Young people at night club

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18:14

MCDONELL:  What's more, Chinese people are early adaptors. According to police research the new trend is to order drugs over the internet. Some dealers even use official fast couriers to make a drop.

18:26

Music

18:39

McDonell at night club to camera

MCDONELL: "Compared to Sydney, London or New York, the level of drug use in places like this is still pretty small. The important thing is the trajectory and it's only going in one direction - up".

18:48

Dance floor of club

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19:03

MCDONELL: And according to some experts, while economic growth may have fanned Chinese drug use, a really big expansion might be in the wings if the economy actually falters.

PROFESSOR WU JIANG: "If China keeps up a normal, stable level of economic growth strengthening drug control systems and education, drug use will not expand so widely.

19:11

Music

19:39

Night club interior

PROFESSOR WU JIANG:  "But if our growth halts with bad social management, and we have social instability, then the drug problem in China will dramatically increase. It could be ten times or twenty times bigger."

19:43

Music

19:58

MCDONELL: That's not just because some might turn to drugs when times are tough to dull the pain. It's also because people might see the narcotics trade as a potential replacement for lost business opportunities in other areas.

20:00

Music

20:13

Prof Wu Jiang. Super:
Professor Wu Jiang
Yunnan University

PROFESSOR WU JIANG: "It just brings in so much profit. If someone wanted to break into our system, it is very easy. The easiest and the quickest way to make a fortune is to deal drugs - to sell drugs here.

20:23

Drugged woman

Music

20:39

Ex user walking

MCDONELL: Yet, as with all highs, there's the comedown. Our woman hit rock bottom when her son, who was once a good student, was nearly thrown out of school. She was picked up by police and sent to rehab.

20:45

Woman ex user on bridge looking at cars

These days she's clean, has a new job and her son has made it into university. Yet the old times still linger in her memory.

21:05

SHANGHAI WOMAN EX USER: "My life is great. My family, myself, my career and my parents are all great. I am back to how I felt before I had taken drugs. But deep in my heart there's a small place reminding me that I took drugs before".

21:15

Music

21:40

Ex users working on production lines

MCDONELL: For many in China, trying to kick it is not only tough but it's compulsory and while ice may be on the rise, a much more traditional drug casts a long shadow here.

21:48

Music

22:07

MCDONELL: There are one thousand ex-heroin addicts working at the Yulu complex. Work camp style rehabilitation centres like this one in Yunnan's Kaiyuan City were set up in the 1990s for drug users who'd been picked up by the authorities and today there are 678 of them across China housing 300,000 ex drug users.

22:09

Music

22:39

MCDONELL: But now the police who run Yulu say people choose to come and choose to stay, but when they're here, the rules are strict.

22:44

McDonell to camera at Yulu

"Normally if a foreign camera crew came into a Chinese factory there'd be smiles and giggling and ‘Oooh, what are they doing in here?' Not in this place, listen... Nothing... Just the sound of the machines. People are head down, working. I don't know if it's because they're sad or embarrassed about their past but it's definitely the way it is".

22:59

Lu Jianghuai in factory

Lu Jianghuai says it was only possible for him to give up heroin because of the discipline here. Now he's been promoted to manage this

23:26

McDonell with Lu in factory

floor of the factory complex.

[looking at production on factory floor] "What about over here"?

LU JIANGHUAI: "From there and there they glue them and over there we sew them together.

MCDONELL: "Ah... put them together".

23:33

Woman sewing/Factories

MCDONELL: "He introduces the work they do with 15 companies investing in a network of factories making everything from purses to solar water heaters, door frames to cigarette lighters.

23:50

McDonell with Lu in factory

I asked him what's become of the friends he used to take heroin with.

24:03

LU JIANGHUAI: "Most of them are dead following an overdose".

24:07

Lu in factory

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24:12

MCDONELL: Lu Jianghuai has found a woman to marry him at the factory but as for those who were once closest to him, well he doesn't see them very much.

24:17

LU JIANGHUAI: "Dad and Mum got divorced because of my addiction.

24:31

Music

24:35

Lu

LU JIANGHUAI:  Because I was taking drugs they scolded me but I couldn't stop. My family started to... ah... what can I say? I feel very sorry for what happened to my family".

24:41

Men working in rehabilitation complex

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25:07

MCDONELL: This rehabilitation complex is rolling out a massive attempt at healing in response to an industrial sized problem in China. Yet, if you think this is of concern, well it could even hit you closer to home.

25:17