Abstract
China has been marked as a source country from which large volumes of precursor chemicals are shipped to foreign drug markets for synthetic drug production. However, the basic patterns of illicit distribution remain unclear. Data from closed criminal cases were extracted from legal files to develop an objective understanding of illicit distribution patterns in China. The sample consisted of 534 illicit supply cases involving 1481 individuals, three groups of precursor chemicals and 102 chemical manufacturing companies. The offenders could be categorised as lower-class offenders, occupational offenders and corporate offenders based on their profiles and criminal behaviours. Significant differences between the three groups of offenders and their specific patterns of chemical supply suggest a diverse, dynamic and complex nationwide supply network. To better understand this phenomenon in China’s rapidly transitioning society, we provide a description of cultural, legal and political backgrounds, which may provide some explanations at the macro level.
Highlights
In recent research and official documents, China has been regarded as a source country from which a large volume of precursor chemicals is transported to foreign countries for synthetic drug production (EMCDDA 2016; King and Kicman 2011; Norman, Grace and Lloyd 2014; Seddon 2014)
Closed criminal cases of illicit supply in the past six years (2012–2017) in China were collected from an official database,2 China Judgment Online, which was established and maintained by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China in 2013.3 Given the aim of this research—to describe basic supply patterns in China—we only focused on cases that were brought to trial according to Article 3504 of the criminal law
102 managers were involved in the illicit supply of chemicals
Summary
In recent research and official documents, China has been regarded as a source country from which a large volume of precursor chemicals is transported to foreign countries for synthetic drug production (EMCDDA 2016; King and Kicman 2011; Norman, Grace and Lloyd 2014; Seddon 2014). This is plausible to foreign scholars and governments because hundreds of metric tonnes of precursors, confiscated by foreign law enforcement agencies, are shipped by legitimate enterprises in China to other countries (EMCDDA 2017). China’s trafficking of precursor chemicals to local and foreign drug producers and the smuggling of synthetic drugs to China are widely acknowledged to have developed into a stable and bidirectional cycle (Chen and Huang 2007)
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