Governments Ignore Organized Crime Crisis Across Asia

The immense demand for methamphetamine (ice), ecstasy and new psychoactive substances among the wealthy urban residents of East Asia and beyond has revitalized organized crime in the region. The scale of recent drug seizures in underground laboratories in China's Guangdong province alone is staggering -- and it's jumped by 50 percent in the past year. In May that year, 1.3 tons of ketamine and 2.7 tons of its precursors were found in the city of Yangjiang, disguised as black tea bound for Southeast Asia.