Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    TWO foreigners were arrested by police in Shekou early Sunday morning for selling drugs and 93 people, including 50 foreigners, were detained for using drugs, according to an official announcement by Nanshan police yesterday.

    The statement said that police from the Nanshan Public Security Sub-bureau had received a report that some people were using drugs at a party in a public tunnel beneath Beihuan Boulevard, near the Ikea store early Sunday morning.

    According to multiple witnesses, hundreds of police arrived at the venue and transported all the partygoers with around 10 buses to several police stations in the district. The statement confirmed that 491 people in total were taken away by police for drug tests.

    Police said 118 people tested positive for drug use, with the majority testing positive for having used marijuana. There were 93 people still being held by police, including 50 foreign nationals, according to the release.

    The two foreigners arrested for selling drugs in a separate operation in Shekou face up to three years in jail, said Ma Huihui, a lawyer from a local law firm.

    Ma said someone caught using drugs will usually be held in administrative detention for less than 15 days, with a monthlong detention being the longest legally possible.

    Ma said administrative detention would not be filed on a criminal record.

    Ma said foreign nationals would receive the same punishment as Chinese residents. No phones are allowed during detention, so some people may not be able to contact their friends or families, said Ma.

    A female witness, who identified herself only as Gabriella, described the police raid at the party as frightening.

    “I was basically crying for an hour and a half because I was frightened and did not know what was happening,” said Gabriella. “But I would say that the police were acting very professionally because there were hundreds of people and they needed to act very strictly and firmly.”

    Gabriella said she and the other females were separated from the males and put into a room with policewomen for a drug test.

    “It was a very modern test,” said Gabriella. “We had to pee in a cup while they (the policewomen) were watching us then put the test (paper) above the cup.”

    “The results came so fast … yet they kept us there for four more hours,” Gabriella said she was exhausted when finally released from the station.

    “The police who carried out the raids were very rude and shouting all the time, but the morning shift police were actually treating us nice by sending us fresh food and water.”

    “But I still don’t know why the police kept us for such a long time after the results came out,” said Gabriella, who had attended parties organized by the same group several times before.

    An official with the Indian Consulate General in Guangzhou contacted the Shenzhen Daily through a third party yesterday to learn about whether any Indian nationals were among those detained, after reading the paper’s frontpage story yesterday.