Another Expat Arrested at Beijing Airport for Drug Smuggling

原创 Charles L. theBeijinger

For the second time in four weeks, Beijing media is reporting that another expat has been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into Beijing Capital International Airport.

BTV television show Time to Uphold the Law (法治进行时 fǎzhì jìnxíng shí) broadcasted a report last week that showed plain-clothed police officers arresting a foreign national named Ikobi (an approximation from 艾科比) immediately after disembarking from his Shenzhen flight.

Shot from the perspective of the police, the report shows the preparation and planning for Ikobi's arrival as well as the moment when the suspect is surrounded and apprehended by some half-dozen officers.

As one police officer repeatedly asked him to "be honest," Ikobi was led outside to the parking lot where a parcel that had been hidden in the lining of the backpack was tested. Ultimately, Ikobi was found to be in possession of 1,131 grams (over two pounds) of methamphetamine.

This report shares numerous similarities with a Time to Uphold the Law report from June in which another expat was arrested and caught on video immediately upon arriving at the Beijing airport from another Chinese city with a large quantity of drugs.

Although identities were obfuscated and few details were revealed, a few things can be known for sure about the arrests.

First, local police had knowledge that Ikobi was smuggling drugs long before he arrived in Beijing. Besides knowing his seat number, police also had to wait longer after it was discovered that Ikobi's Shenzhen flight had been delayed.

Secondly, the arrests have been ripe subjects for Chinese television. Despite the news of their arrests failing to make the wider Chinese news spectrum, arrests of drug smuggling foreign nationals have made for engaging television watching, just like it did in June of last year when yet another episode of Time to Uphold the Law revealed an expat of a West African country to be smuggling drugs in her underwear after a drug test turned up nothing.

For whatever misguided reason they have for trying to smuggling drugs in China, expats should know that their Chinese peers do not have their back. Captured Chinese drug dealer Liu Zhaohua demonstrated his nationalistic side when he admitted on camera last December that he only sold drugs to foreigners.

"They used opium to open a door to China, so I was trying to use drugs to open their door," said Liu, evoking the "Century of Shame" in which China ceded multiple concessions to foreign imperial powers.

According to state media, about a dozen foreign nationals have been sentenced to death for drug smuggling convictions since 2000. Anyone convicted of trafficking 50 grams of cocaine or more is automatically sentenced to capital punishment under Chinese law.

Images: Sohu News (sohu.com)

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