Police in Guiyang, Guizhou province have seized around 15,000 guns and 120,000 knives in a crackdown on weapon trafficking and violent crime in the region. CCTV reports that the seizure is the nation's biggest recent years.
The weapons were confiscated from a huge criminal network, whose distribution spanned 27 provinces including Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan. Fifteen suspects accused of manufacturing and trafficking the illegal weapons have been arrested, police announced.
The organisation, led by the Chen family, bought and sold guns and knives under the guise of a legitimate knife retailer. The weapons were manufactured in legally operating factories Yangjiang, Guangdong province, at the Chens' request.
Sun Licheng, head of the provincial public security department of Guizhou, said the case reflected loopholes in gun and knife supervision across the country.
If found guilty, the suspects could each face up to 10 years in prison, or the death penalty if the weapons are used in violence which cause "serious consequences", under the Criminal Law revised in 1997.
China has seen its nationwide crackdown on violent crime reinforced following the Kunming terrorist attacks on March 1, which saw 29 killed and 143 injured at the hands of knife-wielding terrorists.
Seizures of illegal weapons in recent years saw gun crime fall 37.9 percent in 2013 compared with the previous year, the Ministry of Public Security announced in March 2014.
[Photo via Reuters]
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