Officers endure extremes to keep Yunnan border safe

A police officer patrols at night. [By Zhang Jing/For chinadaily.com.cn]

At 9 pm, it started raining. The officers spent two hours patrolling amid rubber trees even though the road was slippery and it was heavily damp.

"I was born and grew up at the border. It is my duty to safeguard the border," one police officer said, adding that in March, officers captured three drug dealers at a crossing in the area they patrolled.

At 4 am the next day, the officers watched closely using a high definition video monitoring system in case of any smuggling.

"If I detected any abnormal situation, I would inform my colleagues who were patrolling," one officer said.

The officers can rest in a 10 square-meter tent. Inside the tent is a folding table on which there is a bottle of lotion to keep the mosquitoes away, a box of mosquito repellent incense and a kettle. The police need to spray powders around the tents to keep pests, including snakes, rats and ants, away.