China, U.S. jointly crack transnational criminal case

Chinese and U.S. law enforcement authorities have jointly cracked a transnational criminal case involving the trafficking of new psychoactive substances, China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said on Thursday.

The MPS's narcotics control bureau and the Drug Enforcement Administration under the U.S. Department of Justice launched a joint investigation into the case in 2024, the ministry said.

In February 2026, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin arrested a suspect surnamed Gong based on clues provided by the U.S. side, according to the ministry. Earlier, U.S. authorities arrested an American suspect linked to the same case in the U.S. state of Georgia.

The successful resolution of the case reflects the institutionalized operation of China-U.S. anti-drug law enforcement cooperation and marks another practical outcome of the two sides' coordinated efforts to combat cross-border crimes, the ministry said.

It also demonstrates the firm stance of the two countries' law enforcement agencies in showing no tolerance for drug-related criminal activities and associated transnational crimes, it added.

Earlier this month, the MPS said Chinese and U.S. anti-drug authorities jointly cracked another drug trafficking case in April. In synchronized operations conducted in China's Liaoning and Guangdong provinces, as well as the U.S. states of Florida and Nevada, law enforcement authorities arrested five suspects and seized a batch of drugs, successfully dismantling a drug smuggling channel spanning the two countries.

In recent years, the MPS has stepped up the crackdown on illegal and criminal activities related to cross-border sales of precursor chemicals and new psychoactive substances. According to an MPS statement issued earlier this month, police nationwide have cracked 29 related criminal cases and arrested 157 suspects since 2025.