Cops break gang’s massive gun, knife arsenal

[Sprint]

Guiyang cops break gang’s massive gun, knife arsenal

Global Times | 2014-4-14 0:33:01

Guiyang police claimed to have seized the largest number of guns and knives in recent years by busting a large underground gang's arsenal.

Some 15,000 guns and 120,000 knives were taken from a criminal network across 27 provincial regions and cities including Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou, China Central Television said on Saturday.

Fifteen suspects were involved in manufacturing and trafficking guns and knives, police authorities said.

The criminal group, led by the Chen family, bought and sold guns and knives under the guise of a legitimate knife shop, according to the police investigation.

Those guns and knives were mainly manufactured in legal factories in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, at the Chens' requests.

Sun Licheng, head of the provincial public security department of Guizhou, said that the case reflected loopholes in gun and knife supervision across the country.

People who possess, manufacture and traffic illegal guns and knives face up to 10 years in prison. If those weapons cause "serious consequences," they face the death penalty under the Criminal Law revised in 1997.

Chinese public security authorities have been destroying illegal guns and explosives nationwide for several years in a bid to reduce related violent crimes.

Gun crime in 2013 was reduced 37.9 percent compared with the figure for 2012, the Ministry of Public Security announced in March 2014.

Global Times

 

[Arena]

Guizhou police seize more than 10,000 illegal guns in crackdown

China's largest haul of illegal arms was made in the Guizhou capital Guiyang, reports said on Sunday, as police seize 10,500 guns and 120,000 knives

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 13 April, 2014, 7:23pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 13 April, 2014, 7:23pm

Reuters in Shanghai

Police in the city of Guiyang seized 10,500 guns and 120,000 forbidden knives, CCTV said. Photo: Reuters

The authorities in the southern province of Guizhou have seized more than 10,000 illegal guns, state television reported on Sunday, marking China’s largest haul of illegal firearms as the government steps up efforts to crack down on violent crime.

Police in the city of Guiyang seized 10,500 guns and 120,000 forbidden knives, China Central Television said.

Fifteen people suspected of being part of a criminal gang involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of firearms were arrested, it said.

The gang’s distribution network covered Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and 27 other provinces, CCTV said.

Gun attacks are rare in China but the government has stepped up efforts against violent crime following a spate of incidents, including a knife attack at a station in Kunming city in March blamed on militants from the western region of Xinjiang.

Last month, police shot dead a man who went on a rampage with a knife killing five people after a dispute between market vendors got out of control.

China’s leadership is highly sensitive to issues of unrest from separatists in Xinjiang to dissidents organising through social media networks.