Police officer jailed for drug case fabrication

A police officer in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, has been sentenced to five years in prison for deceiving minors into drug use to fabricate enforcement cases, according to a first-instance ruling issued in April.

Court documents show that Ma, a deputy head of a local police station, sought to meet enforcement targets by asking an associate, surnamed Xu, to provide drug-related leads. In January 2024, Xu arranged for six minors to gather, after which Ma supplied e-cigarettes containing etomidate, a controlled substance.

Xu later took the e-cigarettes to a hotel, where the minors were induced to inhale the substance. He then contacted Ma, who led officers to apprehend them, staging a drug-related case.

The court ruled that Ma's conduct constituted the crime of deceiving others into drug use, a serious offense under Chinese law. Three other individuals involved in the case were also sentenced to prison.