Picture of suitcases containing smuggled cannabis captured by Chinese customs officers. Photo: Zhongguo Jindu

In June 2025, customs officers at Beijing Capital International Airport intercepted more than 70 kilograms of suspected cannabis products from four pieces of checked baggage on an international flight transiting through Beijing, the WeChat account of National Narcotics Control Commission reported on Saturday. 

The luggage was flagged during a routine risk assessment after customs officers detected abnormalities in X-ray images. Rapid drug tests later confirmed the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol.

Customs anti-smuggling authorities launched an investigation the same day and identified two foreign transit passengers as suspects. Investigators found that the two had allegedly agreed to transport the cannabis overseas for illegal profits under the instructions of others, with plans to transit through Beijing before delivering the drugs to a third country, according to the account. 

Prosecutors found that the two foreigners had violated China's drug control and customs regulations by knowingly and illegally carrying and transporting drugs into the country. Their actions constituted suspected drug smuggling under Article 347 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.

The seized drugs were identified as cannabis with a net weight of 70,830.9 grams. Prosecutors determined that the case involved the smuggling of a large quantity of drugs and that the defendants should be held criminally liable in accordance with the law.

The two defendants argued that they were merely transiting through China and that China was not their final destination, claiming their actions had caused no substantial harm within the country.

Chinese prosecutors, however, said that once the drugs entered China's customs territory, the crime of drug smuggling was deemed completed, and the fact that the drugs were only being transported through China in transit did not affect the establishment of the offense.

China maintains a "zero-tolerance" approach toward drug-related crimes, and offenders would be punished in accordance with the law regardless of their nationality or the drugs' final destination, prosecutors said.

After prosecutors explained the relevant laws and presented the evidence, the two defendants eventually confessed to the offenses and voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment.

Global Times