From Mummies to Carpets: Drugs in Xinjiang

Although drugs have most famously made their way into China through its southern ports, Xinjiang has never been immune to its terrible grasp, neither in its history or in the present.  The most recent drug-related news to come from this area was the comic discovery of cannabis alongside ancient mummies, but I just ran across another article detailing a more modern discovery of drugs that I found even funnier. Tourist beware: that wool carpet you just bought here may be worth more than you bargained for.

From the Straights Times:

"A common method for smuggling heroin into Xinjiang has been to weave fine plastic tubes containing the drug into the region's famed wool carpets, it said.

In one case, police seized 48 kilograms of heroin hidden in carpets discovered at the airport in Xinjiang regional capital Urumqi."

Now that's a creative and very region-specific way to smuggle!  In the world of smuggling I would expect that the level of creativity rises exponentially in relation to the consequences for being caught, so it doesn't surprise me to learn that in China the penalty for first-time offenders caught trafficking drugs is often the death penalty.

I've never done drugs in my life but I'm not blind to the fact that it happens even in small cities like mine. Xinjiang's location next to countries that are known as some of the top producers of heroin (Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) make it a prime target for drug smugglers.

I have, however, bought a wool carpet.  A couple of them, actually.  Now there's no part of me that believes I am in possession of anything I shouldn't be but you have to admit that the storyline sounds like the plot from some movie!

Sources:
  The Straights Times:  "Foreigners nabbed for drugs"