KUNMING — A six-nation joint campaign on drug crime along the Lancang-Mekong region will continue next year, law enforcement personnel from the countries said on July 27.

The anti-drug campaign was launched by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand in 2013, with Cambodia and Vietnam joining in 2015.

As of this July, a total of 33,000 drug-related cases have been cracked, with 53,000 suspects captured and 99.3 tons of drugs seized, according to the law enforcement personnel attending a meeting held in Jinghong, Southwest China’s Yunnan province, to mark the end of the latest anti-drug operation.

The personnel agreed to strengthen cooperation in intelligence, transnational law enforcement, monitoring key drug-trafficking routes and regulation of drug precursors.

An Guojun, deputy secretary-general of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, said that 2018 was the last year of a three-year joint drugs control action plan, and each country had cracked a series of major drug cases.

But drug production and trafficking are still rampant in the region, with stronger anti-drug efforts needed, participants at the meeting agreed.

Permpong Chaovalit, consultant at Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board, said that the joint campaign should focus on the Golden Triangle region, one of the world’s major drug-producing areas.

The Mekong River, known as the Lancang River in China, runs through the six countries and is an important waterway for transnational shipping.