China is intensifying its drive to crack down on illegal drug dealing to improve domestic drug production and sales channels, sources from the State Drug Administration (SDA) said.

Sources said that China closed down 113 illegal drug dealing markets nationwide in 1999 and handled a total of 4,770 cases involving "bogus" drug production worth 172 million yuan (20.7 million US dollars).

Central and provincial Drug Inspection Bureaus conducted random tests on 21,000 homegrown drugs and 17,000 imported products last year. They revoked 282 drug production licenses and suspending operation of 34 drug dealing enterprises.

In recent years, illegal drug dealings have increased considerably in China. The SDA issued a circular last year calling for concerted efforts to supervise all drug production and the distribution sales.

Moreover, some 100 unauthorized drug dealing enterprises had to suspend production or were forced to close down by the end of last year.