Police bust major drug smuggling ring

Police in Guangdong province have seized more than 2,000 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as crystal meth, after busting a major cross-border drug smuggling ring.

A total of 11 suspects, including a Vietnamese national, a Hong Kong resident, and mainlanders from Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, were detained and two replica pistols, 10 bullets and a large number of raw materials and tools for producing the drug were seized, said Deng Jianwei, director of drug enforcement with Guangdong provincial department of public security.

"A special channel that drug traffickers used to transport the drugs produced in Guangdong to Southeast Asia and the rest of the world via Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been closed as a result of fighting this case," Deng told a news conference in Guangzhou on Thursday.

He said two covert drug production dens had been shutdown as a result of the operation, code-named Jufeng 2016.

Deng said Guangdong police established a special task force to focus on investigating the case after learning in mid-September that a gang headed by a Hong Kong resident and a Vietnamese national were smuggling drugs produced in Guangdong into Hong Kong.

By the end of September, officers had seized 1,110 kilograms of crystal meth from a production base in Guangzhou's Panyu district.

A mainland suspect surnamed Liu was detained and laboratory equipment used in the production of methamphetamine was confiscated from the scene.

Other special operations were launched simultaneously in the cities of Shenzhen, Jieyang and Shanwei earlier this month, after police discovered that the gang had moved their production base to Huilai, which is under the administration of Jieyang in eastern Guangdong, following the Panyu crackdown.

Police detained another 10 suspects at the new location, including the suspected ringleaders from Hong Kong and Vietnam, and seized more than 900 kg of crystal meth.

Deng said that Jufeng 2016 had dealt a heavy blow to cross-border drug trafficking in southern China, but he reiterated that the fight against drugs was not over.

According to statistics from Deng's department, police across Guangdong detained more than 19,000 suspects involved in 15,000 drug and drug-related cases between January and September.

More than 14,700 kg of drugs were seized and 140 drug production locations shutdown over the same period.