China's National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) said on Wednesday it established last year a data bank to monitor drug addicts.

Files of more than 785,900 drug takers had been included in the data bank by end of March. The Ministry of Public Security launched the monitoring system in August of last year.

The system aims to determine the number of China's drug takers, verify their identities, and monitor their current situation, said an official with NNCC.

Police in east China's Fujian used the information in the data bank to crack a drug trafficking case recently, said the official.

Local police received a report on Jan. 5 that a man sold drugs in the entertainment sites of Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province. Police checked the data bank which helped to identify the suspect.

Six suspects were arrested by police on March 9, and more than 1,100 grams of drugs were confiscated, said the official.

Police data showed that China's number of drug takers grew 35 percent in the five years since 2000 to hit 1.16 million in early 2005.

The number dropped to 720,400 in August of 2006 as a result of compulsory rehabilitation measures and strict checks on chemicals and narcotics, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2007)