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Investigators have revealed that local area police, party and government officials were intimately involved in Boshe village's drug trade.
The revelation came following a massive anti-drug raid on Boshe in Guangdong Province by a 3,000-strong provincial police contingent last week. The raid led to the seizure of nearly three tons of methamphetamines and the arrest of more than 180 people.
The drug trade was the village's main business and most profitable industry. Authorities estimate that more than a fifth of the village's household were involved in either the production or trafficking of drugs. Village students were said to be able to make 10,000 yuan per month for simply packing methamphetamine powder into capsules.
In follow-up investigations, police found that 21 officials from nearby Lufeng were involved in Boshe's drug business and that these officials provided tip-offs of impending police raids, transportation for drugs products and allowed the open production and trafficking of drugs with little or no interference.
Authorities said this collusion allowed Boshe to openly carry out its drug trade, which has been estimated to provide a third of the nation's supply of methamphetamines, while successfully resisting anti-drug investigations and "violently opposing" police campaigns. One police official said "the village has made criminal drug production a clan-based industrialized operation with local protection."
The officials involved in the Boshe drug business included the head of the Lufeng police anti-drug division and the Boshe party secretary. Both would use their access to each other and to law enforcement and government leaders throughout the region and province to develop an effective protection web around Boshe. Authorities are now working to convert the village away from drug production to something that is legal and profitable.
Before the village entered the drug business, most residents made a living through farming. Authorities have sent in six teams to help villagers rediscover how to make a living the legal way.
