Drug traffickers are using more covert means, new types of narcotics have hit the "market" and the number of addicts is on the rise, police and court officials said Monday.

All provinces, irrespective of whether they are near the border or inland face the threat of narcotics, said Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Control Bureau.

The situation is still "grave" because drugs are still entering China from the neighboring regions and the number of illegal drug processing plants has increased in the country, he said.

Announcing the breakthrough in several major drug trafficking cases in which seven culprits were sentenced to death yesterday, Supreme People's Court spokesman Ni Shouming warned that China is facing the danger of "rampant infiltration" from neighboring drug sources. Besides, more Chinese people are colluding with overseas drug dealers to process, transport and sell drugs in the country.

The "Golden Triangle", comprising Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, is the biggest source of drugs in China. But the total area under poppy cultivation there has reduced because of the governments' joint efforts, Liu said. Nevertheless, more new types of drugs such as the "ice" are being trafficked from there into China today.

Also, more drugs are entering China from another major source, the "Golden Crescent" that is spread across the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, he said. Another alarming development is the increase in trafficking of drugs from a country, which Liu did not specify, through the northeastern parts of China.

A new trend among drug abusers, Liu said, is the switch from traditional drugs such as heroin and opium to new drugs like Ketamine, dancing outreach and some psychtropic substances like dolantin.

The Ministry of Public Security's website quotes Vice-Minister Zhang Xinfeng as saying: "With the strengthening of the interception (machinery) and crackdown, heroin supply in the country has reduced sharply, forcing many drug addicts to use psychotropic substances."

Drug traffickers are adopting more secretive means, Liu said. "The number of cases in which huge amounts of drugs are seized is dropping as dealers are dividing the contraband into smaller parts and exploiting the security loopholes to traffick them through road and water transport or even postal services."

Ni said that in a number of cases busted in southwestern China, dealers were found to have been using pregnant women to carry drugs.

The Ministry of Public Security also said that it had cracked a trans-border case in which eight people, including a Filipino, were detained and drugs worth about 54 million yuan ($7.09 million) seized.

During their joint efforts over past three years, Chinese and Filipino police have busted a gang that was a major drug processor and trafficker in the region, Liu said.

The main culprit, Cai Aishan, 48, a retired navy soldier and resident of Fujian Province, was arrested in Beijing on June 3.