KUNMING, June 10  -- Lao police handed over five suspects allegedly involved in a major cross-border drug trafficking case to their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday.

The handover took place at Vientiane Wattay International Airport in the Lao capital in the morning.

Three suspects were escorted to Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, which borders Laos, in the afternoon. Two others will be sent back on Wednesday, said sources with the Ministry of the Public Security, who declined to release information about the suspects' nationality.

The suspects were detained in a raid by the two countries' police on March 19, 2013, with more than 579 kgs of methamphetamine, known as "ice", seized.

The ministry said the handover was a demonstration of effective cooperation between China and Laos in the fight against drug trafficking.

It hopes to improve cooperation on the sharing of information, collecting evidence, interrogating suspects and repatriations.

Yunnan, which borders the "Golden Triangle" of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, is at the forefront of China's anti-drug efforts.

Chinese police have joined law enforcement departments of the three countries to crack down on drug trafficking.