An international drug-trafficking channel active in the southern and eastern China has been busted following a crackdown on a drug gang headed by a Taiwan resident.

The gang smuggled methamphetamine, known as "ice", and ketamine, or K-powder, produced in Guangdong, by air and ship to the Hong Kong special administrative region, Taiwan, Southeast Asian nations and the rest of the world via the channel.

"Police seized 1.39 tons of liquid ketamine, 24.6 kilograms of finished ketamine and 3 tons of supplementary materials," Wu Bohui, deputy director of the drug enforcement detachment of the Yangjiang bureau of public security, told a news conference in Guangdong province on Thursday.

"This was after police raided three drug production locations financed by Taiwan residents in Guangdong province in special operations earlier this year."

A total of 27 suspects, including the suspected gang head surnamed Chen and a key gang member surnamed Wang, were detained, Wu said. Both Chen and Wang are Taiwan residents.

"The police are still busy pursuing other escaped gang members who come from Taiwan island," Wu said.

The 25 other suspects, all from the Chinese mainland, were detained in Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/13/2015 page5)