:00:13. > :00:21.In China, one drug, a decades-old anaesthetic, is getting a new life
:00:22. > :00:39.on the club scene. It is called ketamine.
:00:40. > :00:45.Chinese drug gangs are raking in huge profits. They figured out how
:00:46. > :00:54.to make large batches of cheap ketamine, something once thought to
:00:55. > :00:58.be technically impossible. I am Celia Hatton, I will take you into
:00:59. > :01:09.the Fortress, the Chinese village at the heart of the country's struggle
:01:10. > :01:13.with ketamine. I will find out why ketamine is so popular inside China,
:01:14. > :01:30.and how that is affecting the rest of the world.
:01:31. > :01:42.The southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the beating heart of
:01:43. > :01:49.China's economy. Workers here create almost everything stamped Made in
:01:50. > :01:58.China. Mainstream manufacturing is not what it used to be. Once rampant
:01:59. > :02:02.growth is slowing down. But the Chinese mafia is flourishing here,
:02:03. > :02:09.sometimes in competition, sometimes in partnership with the Chinese
:02:10. > :02:13.authorities. Gangs profit by manufacturing and selling their own
:02:14. > :02:19.product. A top choice, synthetic drugs. They can be made by anyone
:02:20. > :02:31.with the right knowledge, equipment, and access to the right people. The
:02:32. > :02:37.border city of Shenzhen comes into its own that night. It flows freely
:02:38. > :02:48.here, having just eclipsed Hereward to become the most -- second most
:02:49. > :03:05.common drug found in police raids. Crystal meth is still the most
:03:06. > :03:10.common. We can to find out why. On the dance floor, those with money
:03:11. > :03:32.and energy to burn come out to play. For many, alcohol is not
:03:33. > :03:39.enough. They rent private rooms in karaoke bars, far away from prying
:03:40. > :03:44.eyes. We shot this footage with a secret camera. Young men at the
:03:45. > :03:53.start of a big night don't waste time pulling out small bags of white
:03:54. > :03:57.crystallised powder, ketamine. Using credit cards and plastic straws,
:03:58. > :04:05.they cut the drug into lines and inhale. Users say ketamine lift them
:04:06. > :04:14.out of their bodies, sending them off into other worlds. They say they
:04:15. > :04:32.can fly or float, they can escape reality. But reality is hard to
:04:33. > :04:36.ignore as night gives way today. If ketamine, a powerful anaesthetic,
:04:37. > :04:54.makes someone unconscious over and over again, what happens to that
:04:55. > :04:58.person's mind and body? In nearby quango, one of China's largest
:04:59. > :05:02.private drug rehabilitation facilities has some answers. They
:05:03. > :05:07.treat hundreds of patients at a time for a host of addictions. Each month
:05:08. > :05:15.there is a sizeable jump in the number is struggling with ketamine,
:05:16. > :05:17.some as young as 14. It is the patient's families who normally sign
:05:18. > :05:21.them into this clinic, so not everyone stays here voluntarily.
:05:22. > :05:32.That explains the locked doors and pass on the windows. Acupuncture is
:05:33. > :05:36.prescribed to almost every patient. By stimulating nerves just below the
:05:37. > :05:45.skin, it is thought to ease withdrawal symptoms and anxiety. The
:05:46. > :05:49.clinic is also filled with distractions from drugs. This man
:05:50. > :05:55.couldn't function without ketamine just three weeks ago. He was brought
:05:56. > :06:14.to the clinic by his distraught parents.
:06:15. > :06:56.He turned his back on ketamine, first entering the army, then
:06:57. > :07:00.finding work as a police officer. Because care to mean is so cheap, it
:07:01. > :07:11.is the first drug Chinese teenagers may try. I met another patient in
:07:12. > :07:53.the clinic's mass such room. -- massage.
:07:54. > :07:57.If you left this clinic right now, how long would it take you to find
:07:58. > :08:29.some ketamine? He has been here for just two weeks,
:08:30. > :08:32.and already he is anxious to leave. Our job is waiting for him at his
:08:33. > :08:43.uncle's restaurant, north in Beijing. He tells me he is ready to
:08:44. > :08:46.start a new life. But even if the clinic's patients unchain themselves
:08:47. > :08:52.mentally from ketamine, they might suffer a lifetime of physical
:08:53. > :08:56.problems. Chronic catamenia is raffish as the kidneys and the
:08:57. > :09:00.bladder. Some have had to have their bladders removed. It causes
:09:01. > :09:04.neurological damage as well, although doctors admit they are
:09:05. > :09:09.still unsure what the drug is capable of. What is the biggest
:09:10. > :09:38.problem you have with ketamine at the moment? Rising ketamine use
:09:39. > :09:49.leads to another question, who is profiting from this drug? Ketamine
:09:50. > :09:55.can be made anywhere, but there is one town that is known for it.
:09:56. > :09:58.Ideally placed near the Gateway city of Hong Kong, few know the name of
:09:59. > :10:09.this time until it made headlines. At the end of 2013, an extraordinary
:10:10. > :10:12.event was broadcast live on Chinese A police raid
:10:13. > :10:16.on Boshe that took six years to plan The raid on China's famed drug
:10:17. > :10:41.village started at 4:00am. 3,000 military police descended
:10:42. > :10:43.in waves, sweeping the streets. Locals called Boshe the Fortress
:10:44. > :10:46.because until that day it seemed Among them, the Communist Party
:10:47. > :10:56.secretary of Boshe, part of the Three tons of meth were found,
:10:57. > :11:03.as well as piles of cash, gold and countless guns,
:11:04. > :11:11.even an explosives factory. Police also uncovered something they
:11:12. > :11:15.weren't expecting - They had little idea ketamine had
:11:16. > :11:20.also become a key product We wanted to interview the police
:11:21. > :11:35.but they would not go on the record. Finally, one officer who was
:11:36. > :11:40.in Boshe agreed to talk. He did not want to show us
:11:41. > :11:46.his face or use his name. We watched a Chinese
:11:47. > :12:58.documentary about the raid. That raid was successful, yes, but
:12:59. > :13:01.the officer admits that China has Drug-making is still taking place
:13:02. > :13:23.in the shadows. Boshe and the surrounding area have
:13:24. > :13:26.seen several more raids in the last year and hundreds more
:13:27. > :13:30.have been arrested. The Chinese authorities are
:13:31. > :13:33.also battling themselves. High-level police must tackle
:13:34. > :13:35.corrupt officials shielding I wanted to get closer to Boshe just
:13:36. > :13:48.to see what it is like It was time to pay a visit to
:13:49. > :13:56.the Fortress. 15 minutes away, we change vehicles,
:13:57. > :13:59.knowing that foreign reporters won't be welcome in Boshe
:14:00. > :14:07.by locals or by edgy police. We are going to be heading
:14:08. > :14:10.into the drug village now. We have varying reports
:14:11. > :14:12.about how dangerous it is. In the past, some of the villagers
:14:13. > :14:17.had guns and grenades with which We know that things have calmed
:14:18. > :14:23.down a bit in the past year. But even so,
:14:24. > :14:25.we are going to be going into the village on this tuk-tuk
:14:26. > :14:28.vehicle, which will blend in a bit. And because I'm the only foreigner
:14:29. > :14:32.in the group, I'm going to try my We are pulling this curtain
:14:33. > :14:55.across now. It feels like we are being
:14:56. > :15:11.smuggled into this village. Entering the village,
:15:12. > :15:17.piles of garbage are everywhere. But rising above them,
:15:18. > :15:21.Boshe's millionaire row, mansions bought with drug money,
:15:22. > :15:33.and which now sit empty. We stopped for a moment
:15:34. > :15:36.in the square. Wealthy drug makers used to burn
:15:37. > :15:39.sacks of real money here A historical temple highlights
:15:40. > :15:47.Boshe's deep roots. This village dates back to
:15:48. > :15:52.the 1200s. Everywhere we go,
:15:53. > :16:01.we attract unfriendly looks. Recently, 13 more locals received
:16:02. > :16:09.the death penalty for trafficking. We have been warned that more raids
:16:10. > :16:14.are planned for the village, so we drove just outside Boshe to
:16:15. > :16:25.meet a local farmer. His grandparents all
:16:26. > :16:30.worked this land. This farm is quite
:16:31. > :16:58.literally dying off. He says that chemical run-off
:16:59. > :17:03.from the illegal drug production in the village just over there has
:17:04. > :17:06.poisoned this water and polluted The remnants of the drug trade
:17:07. > :17:15.are scattered everywhere. It is impossible to grow
:17:16. > :17:26.untainted crops here now. Here, we can see why he
:17:27. > :17:34.will not leave Boshe. He will not abandon
:17:35. > :17:37.the traditional courtyard built by his grandfather and he will not
:17:38. > :17:42.leave his grandmother. Bubbling on the stove, a special
:17:43. > :17:47.soup he makes for his cows. He insists it protects them
:17:48. > :17:53.from the poisoned land. Over tea, he tells us that if drug
:17:54. > :17:57.production continues here, his land will become more contaminated,
:17:58. > :18:00.that is when this family will Photos of the villages' most wanted
:18:01. > :18:17.paper this police checkpoint. The red stamps show
:18:18. > :18:20.the ones who have been captured. Then we meet someone familiar
:18:21. > :18:33.with the fugitives. It took months to arrange,
:18:34. > :18:36.but one man who knows Boshe's drug We agreed to hide his face
:18:37. > :18:43.and his name. He told us that he was not involved
:18:44. > :18:46.in actually making drugs but his relatives,
:18:47. > :18:48.including his ex-wife, his current fiance and her family, were all
:18:49. > :18:54.arrested in that big raid on Boshe. That is how ketamine
:18:55. > :19:22.and other drugs were made on But Boshe's success became
:19:23. > :19:27.a weakness. How easy is it to move
:19:28. > :19:31.a drug making lab? If you have to move one,
:19:32. > :20:02.how quickly can you do it? The gangs were outwitted
:20:03. > :20:05.in that big raid, but overall, Boshe is minutes away from this
:20:06. > :20:23.port, which is famous for smuggling. In the '90s,
:20:24. > :20:27.Boshe profited from contraband The drug trade still dominates
:20:28. > :20:36.this part of China. Despite police efforts,
:20:37. > :20:45.ketamine is a significant export. 60% of the world's ketamine seizures
:20:46. > :20:50.take place here, on the narrow That is thought to be a fraction
:20:51. > :21:05.of the ketamine that is consumed The escape the drug offers is
:21:06. > :21:13.in demand. And our contact says there
:21:14. > :21:16.will always be a supply. At the UN, it is pushing
:21:17. > :21:37.for ketamine to come under tighter Groups like the World Health
:21:38. > :21:49.Organisation argue ketamine is a crucial emergency anaesthetic
:21:50. > :21:54.needed in poor countries. The petition was shelved
:21:55. > :22:01.until next year. By that time, China's problem with
:22:02. > :22:05.illicit ketamine might have spread even further beyond
:22:06. > :22:12.the area famous for making it. But it is home to
:22:13. > :22:19.a dangerously cheap drug, one with heavy consequences
:22:20. > :23:09.for those who cannot give it up. Seldom do we get storms as powerful
:23:10. > :23:11.as Storm Frank in the Atlantic. Here