In the smoky restaurant box, Liangshan squinted and kept asking reporters about their identity information while smoking.
After repeated tests, he determined that the reporter was not a "fishing" policeman, and signaled his men to hand over the poppy shell in the paper bag to the reporter for inspection. He is still not at ease, let the reporter put his mobile phone aside to prevent candid recording. After inspecting the goods, he immediately asked his men to take the poppy shell in their arms. "What is good to say is selling Chinese medicine, and what is not good to say is drug trafficking, which is more risky than selling guns." He spit out one mouthful smoke and said faintly.
As a Chinese herbal medicine merchant with an entity company, Liangshan claims to have hundreds of kilograms of poppy shells in his hand, which will be supplied to vendors who make braised cooked food and a well-known catering brand every month.
The poppy shell of Liangshan (a pseudonym), a drug dealer.
This is the corner of the "black market" of poppy shells in China.
From the end of March to mid-May, 2021, The Paper went to many places to investigate and found that there were underground transactions of poppy shells in several major distribution centers of Chinese herbal medicines in China. Many Chinese herbal medicine merchants said that they had been supplying vendors or stores engaged in braised cooked food and breakfast for a long time at prices ranging from 500 to 700 yuan per catty.
In addition, The Paper search found that some online sellers from Yunnan and Gansu directly set up QQ groups with the words "poppy, opium, rice husk" to find buyers, inspect goods and sell them. There are also sellers who specially prepare dry spices containing poppy powder to sell all kinds of "secret" barbecue materials, lobster materials, pot-stewed materials and mala Tang materials online.
The market demand for poppy shells mainly stems from some catering businesses’ superstitious belief that adding poppy shells (powder and seeds) to food can "enhance taste and fragrance" and make diners addicted. However, some experts told The Paper that experiments show that the role of poppy shells is over-deified, and the rumored role of "enhancing fragrance and addiction" is actually not obvious. In addition, some studies have said that long-term use of soup containing poppy shell or its extract will cause chills, sweating, fatigue, sallow and emaciated, drowsiness and other symptoms, and cause people’s attention and memory function to decline. In severe cases, it may cause damage to the nervous system and digestive system, endocrine disorders, and even lead to respiratory arrest and death.
"What is not pleasant to say is drug trafficking."
The paper bag handed to the reporter by Liang Shanrang contained seven or eight white-brown poppy shells with good appearance, and the rustling of poppy seeds could be heard during shaking.
"I haven’t shaved." "Scraping pulp" in Liangshan refers to cutting milk pulp to extract opium after poppy fruit is ripe. After cutting pulp, there will be dark knife marks on the surface of poppy fruit. He pointed to one of the poppy shells and showed it to the reporter. There was no cut on the surface of the poppy shell.
Poppy is the main raw material for opium production, and its extract is also the source of many sedatives. Poppy shell (commonly known as big tobacco shell and rice shell) is the dried shell of poppy fruit, which is oval or bottle-shaped. Poppy shell contains alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, papaverine, etc. Although the content is smaller than that of opium, it will cause chronic toxic effects on human liver and heart if taken for a long time, and it is a drug controlled by the state. For a long time, the public security departments have severely cracked down on the illegal phenomena of smuggling, trafficking, transportation, manufacturing and illegal possession of poppy shells.
Liangshan said that he still has 600 kilograms of stock in his hand, and the poppy shells in his hand are basically bought from the elderly who secretly grow poppies in the countryside, and he also interplanted with other Chinese herbal medicines in a small amount, which is definitely better than the smuggled goods from the "Golden Triangle North Myanmar" area. He is the only one in the local area who has goods with another medicine dealer.
"Our jargon is called rice shell, not opium shell or poppy shell. You will know this as soon as you say it." At the inspection site, Liangshan explained that the anti-drug situation has been severe in recent years. In the past, there were two or three hundred yuan per catty of poppy shells on the market, but now it has risen to six or seven hundred yuan per catty, and it is constantly rising, which belongs to "valuable and no market".
Liangshan said that almost all his customers are introduced by acquaintances, usually catering businesses, and most of them sell braised dishes. A business does not want much at one time, which is only two or three kilograms. "Yesterday (March 22), a customer came and took 20 pounds of goods."
According to Liangshan, merchants will directly cook the soup with poppy shells, usually throwing them away after cooking twice, or grinding them into fine powder and mixing them with other seasonings in proportion to cook the soup. "Less useful and undetectable." Liangshan said that he would make ribs and stew at home and add poppy powder, or eat steamed bread dipped in poppy seeds.
During the conversation, Liangshan repeatedly claimed that the Beijing branch of a well-known hot pot restaurant brand took at least 500 kilograms of poppy shells from him every month and then distributed them to stores. The reporter expressed doubts about this, and Liangshan only showed the reporter the buyer’s WeChat circle of friends, showing that the other party often posted dynamic news about the catering brand.
Liangshan said that customers can’t deliver poppy shells separately after buying them, but also have to buy some spices such as octagonal cinnamon grass fruit, mix them and grind them into powder for delivery.
In addition, Liangshan said that the address left by the customer does not need to be written in detail, and he will use the logistics without inspection. "The packaging is tattered and nobody cares. After the logistics arrives at the receiving place, it will call the recipient." Because it is easy to be out of stock, customers need to say in advance that they are ready.
During the whole joint inspection process, Liangshan and his men were particularly vigilant and repeatedly told not to let their peers know that they were using this thing to prevent being "fired". If the business is known by a third person, there is no way to do it.
"When we first met, I was afraid you were a COP." After the goods were inspected, Liangshan asked the reporter to open the WeChat chat page contacted with him, returned the 500 yuan sincerity payment paid in advance, and forged a chat record: "I have no goods here, sorry." Then let the reporter and him delete each other’s WeChat, saying that they would contact each other directly by phone in the future.
"Just delete the WeChat record and you can adjust it." Liangshan said that because things are not formal, we must be cautious when contacting transactions. "To say that it is good to sell Chinese medicine, and to say that it is not good is drug trafficking, which is more risky than selling guns."
Liangshan told reporters a virtual number starting with 171, showing the area as Fuzhou, Fujian, and a real number starting with 147, saying that you can dial the number of 147 for private contact, and contact with the virtual number when talking about goods. On wechat, you can’t mention "poppy" when you deliver the goods, just say, "boss, is there any more goods?"
Because Liangshan claimed that a well-known catering brand got goods in bulk from it, considering the public food safety issues, the reporter immediately reported the information to the local police on the night of the unannounced visit.
In the same city as Liangshan, a man surnamed Zhang named "Yaojutang Pharmaceutical" on WeChat told reporters that his poppy shells here only cost 300 yuan a catty. Unlike Liangshan’s goods, although they also contain seeds, they are all broken into pieces, which can be sent to logistics and customers can come and get them.
"Delete the text sent by the above (WeChat) from your side, and just say (again) directly call it aniseed." The man surnamed Zhang said that he could have met for inspection or sent the poppy shell for inspection by taking pictures and videos, but now the police are strict and it is the first time to deal with it, so be careful.
On the evening of March 26, the anti-drug police and reporters opened the samples sent by Zhang’s boss. The outer layer of the package is tightly wrapped in a green woven bag, and the inner layer is wrapped in a black plastic bag after the outer package is torn open, and a hole in the plastic bag is cut to expose the white-brown debris. After the police sent the substance for inspection, they found that the sample sent by the man surnamed Zhang was indeed a poppy shell.
A shopkeeper surnamed Zhang sent a parcel by courier, full of white-brown fragments. The police sent it for inspection and found that it was indeed a broken poppy shell.
At present, the police have set up a task force to investigate the suspected illegal acts of Liangshan and the man surnamed Zhang.
Poppy shell "black market": many drug dealers claim long-term supply.
The poppy shell business of Liangshan and Zhang’s boss is only the corner of the domestic "black market" of poppy shells. According to the reporter’s investigation, this kind of business also exists in Chinese herbal medicine distribution centers such as anguo city, Hebei, Yuzhou, Henan and Zhangshu, Jiangxi.
At 9 o’clock on the evening of March 24th, on the main road from Baoding City, Hebei Province to anguo city, the county-level city under its custody, Yang Qi, a Chinese medicine dealer, rolled up his sleeves and drove a red BMW car while telling reporters about the precautions for trading poppy shells.
"Don’t say that you are from other places, and the local ones won’t sell you (poppy shells)." Yang Qi is not tall, born in 1998, and his face looks a little immature. Since October 2016, a company specializing in the wholesale business of Chinese herbal medicines has been registered. Yang Qi travels to and from the origin of various Chinese herbal medicines in China and sells them to pharmaceutical factories after purchasing them.
He said that in the past few years, there were many phenomena of trading poppy shells in this area. Because of frequent contact, drug dealers selling poppy shells can eat out whether they have added poppy shells or not. "You can know by smelling or eating them." In recent years, the police have cracked down more and more severely, and everyone is sneaking around. Without acquaintances to lead the way, sellers will not admit that they have goods.
After more than an hour, I arrived at a place called "Beigang Car Rental" in anguo city. Under the dim light of night, Elgin made a phone call and asked the other party to install two kinds of poppy shells with different specifications for inspection.
Ten minutes later, a man came by car. In the car, the man took out two packages of poppy shells with different specifications. By the dim light in the car, the reporter saw that there were seven or eight complete poppy shells in two transparent plastic bags, and the one with good quality was bigger. Slightly shaking, two bags can hear the rustling of poppy seeds.
Yang Qi said that the 30 kilograms of poppy shells he prepared for reporters were divided into two specifications. A kilogram with seeds of good quality is 1,700 yuan, and a kilogram without seeds or with fewer seeds is 1,550 yuan. "Once again, there are things mixed in it, so I don’t want to sell it." Yang Qi said that all the goods on hand were collected from other medicinal materials merchants by friends, and most of the goods came from Myanmar. "If the goods are used up, say three days in advance, 30 or 50 kilograms will do."
Yang Qi (not his real name), a medicine dealer in Anguo, Hebei Province, said that most of their poppy shells were smuggled in from Myanmar.
Yang Qi said that what he wants here is basically a catering business, and the proportion added to the catering needs to be adjusted, as far as possible.
In anguo city, Yang Qi is not the only seller of poppy shells. The reporter consulted a number of medicinal materials merchants in Anguo, and the other party said that they were "in stock".
Li He, whose net name is "Qi ‘ao Traditional Chinese Medicine", claims that poppy shells can be crushed into powder, and the minimum 1000 yuan is one kilogram, which requires cash transactions. He said that although it is illegal to trade poppy shells, he can legally purchase them in the name of a medicinal material dealer, mainly because the buyer has to ensure that there is no problem.
"They are all collected locally and can be seen in the store." Near the International Trade Center Square of Chinese Herbal Medicine in anguo city, the owner of "Guangtaihe Lengbei" medicine shop, after being introduced by Zhang Ying, a middleman, also told reporters that it was available.
A medicine dealer in anguo city took out half a bag of poppy shells.
At 8 o’clock in the morning of March 25, after talking with reporters in the medicine shop, the boss saw that there was no one around, turned around and took out a snakeskin bag from the back of the shop, unsealed it, and revealed a poppy shell of half a bag. The reporter grabbed two or three in the bag and found that the surface of these poppy shells was smooth, and there were no shallow cuts after "cutting pulp". Some poppy shells were broken and leaked black seeds inside.
After the reporter finished inspecting the goods, the boss immediately tied the mouth and took the snakeskin bag into the store. "How many goods do you want? Just communicate in advance." He said that the goods just shown to reporters are less than 30kg, which are all "new goods", that is, the goods received in the autumn of 2020, with 650 yuan per catty. After the cash transaction, he will help grind it into fine powder thicker than flour for reporters to take away, or send logistics, but logistics can only send three or five pounds at a time, which is too dangerous.
Zhang Ying, the middleman, said that buying and selling poppy shells must be cautious, and they arrested several people here after the year. The people who pick up the goods here are basically owners of restaurants and hot pot restaurants, or owners who sell braised pork, braised vegetables and barbecues. When communicating with customers, they don’t ask more questions. They are very direct: "Do you have, transfer money and arrange goods?"
It is more than 500 kilometers away from anguo city. In Yuzhou City, Henan Province, another distribution center of Chinese herbal medicines, there is also an underground trade in poppy shells.
On the evening of March 21st, the boss surnamed Chen of "Yuzhou Xing Medicinal Materials Store" told the reporter that he could get the goods here. Every catty of 300 yuan was stolen by the villagers, and they bought it from the village. Because the reporter wants a lot at one time, he needs to find someone to collect the goods. The boss surnamed Chen said that most of his customers are from the catering industry. To be on the safe side, they need to be powdered when picking up the goods.
The owner of WeChat named "Yuzhou Yuzhou Xing Medicinal Materials Store" Chen said that he could get the goods from him, with 300 yuan per catty.
He carefully changed a micro-signal to chat with reporters, saying that when picking up the goods, he needed to write "Gastrodia elata" on the goods, and he should also note "Gastrodia elata" when paying for the goods.
On the morning of April 30th, at another Chinese herbal medicine distribution center — — In Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, Pi Jun, who runs "Zhangshu Wuxin Chinese Herbal Medicine Planting Co., Ltd.", also claimed that he had poppy shells, both with seeds and without seeds, with a kilogram of 800 yuan or so, mainly because some merchants who make braised pork and braised dishes, barbecue and mala Tang have been getting goods from him.
Pi Jun was a little wary when he first contacted reporters, saying that he was worried about using poppy shells for drug trafficking, and he had to check the qualifications of restaurants before supplying them. "First of all, consider the risk, and you can’t earn much money." Pi Jun said that the investigation is very strict now, and it is not easy to get it. In the past, it was cheap to get it.
Some sellers sell online, and others specialize in "secret" spices.
If it is said that drug dealers are still very wary of secretly selling poppy shells offline, some online poppy shell sellers are even more courageous.
The reporter searched with keywords such as "big tobacco shell, poppy shell, big tobacco fruit, rice shell" and found dozens of QQ groups, with members ranging from dozens to hundreds. The names of these groups not only contain keywords searched by reporters, but also contain words such as "spices and seasonings", suggesting that they can be added to catering. Other QQ groups directly use pictures of poppy fruit or poppy shell as group avatars.
The Paper reporter searched with keywords such as "big tobacco shell, poppy shell, big tobacco fruit, rice shell" and found dozens of QQ groups with members ranging from dozens to hundreds.
"If you are in the snack business, if you are in the cooked food business, such as mala Tang and barbecue, if your business is not good, then you only need to join our seasoning to ensure that your business is booming." One of the QQ groups introduced this.
The reporter consulted a number of group owners or administrators. On March 20th, a group of administrators named "Sister Xiang" told reporters that she came from mangshi, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and the poppy shell in her hand came from Myanmar, and the amount of bulk cargo was about 360 yuan per catty, and 500 yuan was needed per catty. She showed the reporter a complete sample of poppy shell in a "flash photo" way and quickly withdrew the news. People who are called catering and wholesale Chinese herbal medicines all get goods from her. If they sincerely buy, they can tell the specific use method.
The sellers on QQ all showed photos of poppy shells in the form of "flash photos", and then quickly withdrew the news.
On March 21st, another QQ group administrator also claimed that he had poppy shells from Myanmar, and 550 yuan had a kilo of postage. He also showed reporters a complete photo of the poppy shell in the form of "flashing photos", and then quickly withdrew the news, claiming that it could guide how to use it after purchase.
Different from the first two sellers, another QQ group administrator named "Gentleman" said that she came from Dunhuang, Gansu Province, and her goods came from Xinjiang. She can directly mail the complete poppy shell or grind it into powder and then deliver it, and 550 yuan can deliver it by one catty. "Write down local products, or medicinal materials and dry goods." She said that in order to avoid inspection, it is necessary to write false shipping information on the package.
After reporting to the public security organ, the reporter bought a catty of poppy shell samples from the three sellers. The logistics numbers provided by the three sellers show that they delivered goods from Kunming, Yunnan, Chengdu, Sichuan and Jiayuguan, Gansu by Best Express, Postal Service and Postal Service respectively. After the arrival of the goods, the police in the jurisdiction where the goods were received took the parcel back to the police station for further processing, and the reporter simultaneously fed back the suspected illegal clues to the police.
On the afternoon of April 29th, the reporter added a QQ group administrator nicknamed "Spice Ingredients" on WeChat, and several short videos with ground spices were posted every day in his circle of friends. The article said that it was to help customers prepare secret fine spices, including lobster sauce, marinated sauce, cold noodles and cold fabrics, barbecue sauce, fried skewers, mutton soup, mala Tang sauce and so on. The seller nicknamed "Spice Ingredients" on WeChat publishes several short videos with ground spices every day in the circle of friends, and the text is called the secret fine spices that help customers prepare.
The seller nicknamed "Spice Ingredients" on WeChat publishes several short videos with ground spices every day in the circle of friends, and the text is called the secret fine spices that help customers prepare.
He sent a reporter an address that was shown as "Chaoyang Non-staple Food Trading Zone" on Xining Road, Liangxi District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, saying that he and his brother operated two dry spice shops here, which were specially equipped with "secret spices" for merchants. Poppy shells need to be ground into powder, and the ingredients such as star anise, fragrant leaves, fennel, cinnamon, codonopsis pilosula and tsaoko are ground into powder in proportion for delivery, and the price of other ingredients is calculated separately at poppy powder 280 yuan per catty. He showed reporters that in recent days, four merchants doing snacks such as cold salad asked them for screenshots of poppy powder’s WeChat chat, saying that about 40 pounds of poppy powder would be produced every month, and the customers were all from the Internet, and the number was not fixed. "Some of them didn’t come after using it once, saying it was too expensive, and they couldn’t see any effect."
His brother Li told reporters that many merchants who make mala Tang, barbecue and braised food always take a few kilograms of goods, and generally they will mix them with other spices in proportion. If they want more, they can grind them into poppy powder, and the buyers will match them themselves. Instead of express delivery, they will deliver them in person. Some merchants sell mala Tang, and they are accompanied by materials for cooking mala Tang; Some merchants make braised food, and they match it with the ingredients of braised food. Most merchants use one or two kilograms a month. Now he dare not store too much goods, and there are only more than 20 kilograms of poppy shells left on hand, all of which are after "cutting pulp". Every time he wants goods, he must say one week in advance.
On the morning of April 30, Li showed a video of grinding ingredients to reporters, saying that he was making secret grilled fish ingredients for a merchant in Guangzhou, with a total of 17 kilograms of ingredients, and the merchant gave poppy powder mixed with 3 kilograms. On the morning of April 30th, a QQ user named "Spice Ingredients" showed a video of ingredients grinding, which was called that a merchant in Guangzhou made secret grilled fish ingredients, with a total of 17 kg of ingredients, and the merchant asked poppy powder mixed with 3 kg.
On the morning of April 30th, a QQ user named "Spice Ingredients" showed a video of ingredients grinding, which was called that a merchant in Guangzhou made secret grilled fish ingredients, with a total of 17 kg of ingredients, and the merchant asked poppy powder mixed with 3 kg.
A QQ user nicknamed "There is nothing wrong with loving you" showed the reporter his poppy shell inventory, saying that many restaurants in China buy from him, and he has to ship hundreds of kilograms every month. "Make sure it’s easy to use and make your business hot." He recommended one of the buyers nicknamed "Jiahuang Potted Vegetable" on QQ to the reporter.
"Jiahuang pot-stewed food" claims that she is the proprietress of a pot-stewed food restaurant in Hengyang, Hunan Province. Five years ago, she set up a stall with her family to sell pot-stewed food, and the competitive environment of eight deli shops in the same market made her business not smooth. Later, she found out that a deli was using a big cigarette case, so she contacted the supplier in many ways.
The proprietress said that she changed three poppy shell suppliers in three years, and the third one was "there is nothing wrong with loving you" and took the goods for more than a year. At present, she runs three stalls of "Jiahuang Potted Vegetables", and buys about five kilograms of poppy shells at a time, about one kilogram of 600 yuan, which can last for three months.
(Liangshan, Elgin, Pi Jun and Zhang Ying are pseudonyms in the text)
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