An increase in the smuggling of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine from Southeast Asia has fueled a rise in violent crime in China this year, a state-run newspaper reported on Wednesday.
In the first nine months of the year, police recorded more than 100 incidents of violent crime blamed on methamphetamine, more than the total number seen in the previous five years, Liu said.
"China is facing a grim task in curbing synthetic drugs, including 'ice,' which more and more of China's drug addicts tend to use," the official China Daily quoted Liu Yuejin, head of the public security ministry's Narcotics Control Bureau as saying, referring to the street name for methamphetamine.