Easy money for Asian gangs

IN the Philippines, where it is widely smoked, it is known as shabu, while in South Korea and Japan it is called hiroppon. Officially it goes by the chemical term methamphetamine hydrochloride, but in Hong Kong and the West it is simply called ''ice''.

Highly addictive and potentially lethal, it is a synthetic designer drug which is big business for Asian gangs using southern China, mainly Guangdong and Fujian provinces, as a manufacturing base. Ice is cheap and easy to produce, provided a skilled ''chemist'' can get the formula and temperatures right, and sells for large profits in the countries where it is taken, especially Japan.

It was originally developed by Japanese scientists at the turn of the century as part of an experiment to find a drug that would allow workers to stay at their posts for longer without breaks.

The Japanese military then used the drug to boost the endurance of its soldiers during conflicts with neighbouring countries, including Korea and China, through to the end of World War II.

According to official studies, North Korean soldiers used ice during the Korean War so they could go for ''long periods with limited rest and food consumption''. In the 1960s, it was used in diet pills and is still prescribed in small doses to people who suffer from disorders where they cannot stay awake.

Ice can come in tablet, crystal or liquid form, from which it can be re-crystalised. In its most common crystal state, it is colourless, odourless and normally transparent, although it can take on a yellow hue depending on the manufacturing process. Good quality examples of the drug, which are clear, are called ''translucent''.

IT can be taken by injection, by being ground into a fine powder and ''snorted'', smoked through a water pipe or by inhaling the vapour caused by heating crystals on a piece of tin foil. It gives the user a rushing sense of euphoria.