By Li Hongmei

An increasing number of international drug dealers are finding themselves Chinese girlfriends to make it easier to conduct their "business" in China, according to Guangzhou's Yangcheng Evening News.

The latest figures released from the local Drug Enforcement Administration showed that agents have closed more than 20 drug cases involving foreign drug dealers and their local girlfriends.

Most of the women were unaware that they were being used to sell drugs. In many of the cases, the women signed for mail or packages that had drugs in them.

An agent said that the administration has recently closed a series of cases and arrested foreign nationals after they attempted to ship their "products" via prompt delivery or registered mail from a foreign location to their "innocent" girlfriends in China.

Although many of the women are kept in the dark with regards to their boyfriend's activities, the agent said that some dealers tell their girlfriends directly. "The woman then becomes a dealer herself, and a drug addict, too."

The agent referred to a case closed in January, where a young woman who previously worked as a make-up artist became embroiled in selling drugs for her Libyan boyfriend. She later became a drug addict, he said.

"For these drug dealers, most of them come to China illegally so it is often very difficult for them to survive and therefore many of them begin a relationship with local girls," the agent said.