Probe finds arms trafficking network

A police officer checks gun parts that were seized during an operation in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese police have rounded up 58 suspected arms traders across 16 provinces after a monthslong investigation into an organized crime network.

Locations in 50 cities were raided, resulting in the discovery of two weapons assembly workshops, 40 foreign-made firearms and 7,779 rounds of ammunition, police in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The probe was launched in January when police in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, asked colleagues in Liuzhou to track 14 packages sent to the city that were believed to contain gun parts.

A month later, a joint investigation into a bank account led to the identification of a suspect, surnamed Wu. Police said he confessed to working with two gun dealers based overseas whom he had known since 2015.

The dealers would dismantle the firearms and then smuggle them part by part into Shenzhen, where they would be shipped to Liuzhou by express delivery, police said Wu told them.

Wu had used Liuzhou as a base to traffic and reassemble firearms, and had made a fortune selling the guns to customers in China, the police said.

Under Chinese law, owning, manufacturing, selling, transporting or renting guns is forbidden.

During further investigation, the police uncovered an organized network involved in making and selling guns across 16 provincial regions.

The Ministry of Public Security sent 32 teams to break up the operation. In addition to the suspected arms traders, 25 buyers were also taken into custody, police said.

In a separate case, police in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, said on Thursday that they had caught a gang making and selling guns, and seized 180 firearms.

More than 3,000 gun parts and 20,000 rounds of ammunition were seized after an investigation that lasted two and half months, said Cao Xiang, police chief of Jiangyan district.

Fourteen suspects, including the alleged leader, surnamed Shen, were detained. Shen confessed to the illegal manufacturing, processing and selling of gun parts, the police said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.