Six-city raids net 110kg ketamine haul

Guangdong police, in co-operation with their counterparts in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, seized more than 110 kilograms of ketamine in a joint operation launched in six cities in the two southern Chinese regions.

Zheng Dong, deputy director general of Guangdong provincial department of public security, said 45 suspects were held after a major cross-province drug gang was busted during the operation launched simultaneously in Guangzhou, Huizhou, Dongguan, Shaoguan and Qingyuan of Guangdong province and Yulin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on March 31.

Vehicles used to transport drugs, semi-finished products and raw materials were seized during the operation that was launched after several months of investigation, Zheng said in Guangzhou on Tuesday.

"Three secret drug production bases were swooped upon in Guangdong and Guangxi in crackdown which has dealt a heavy blow to drug and related crimes that used to be active in the region," Zheng said.

Deng Jianwei, director drug enforcement for Guangdong provincial department of public security, said police in Guangdong have also busted a number or international drug-trafficking gangs following the crackdown in previous months.

Deng reiterated that fighting drugs and drug related crimes is a long term project and a tough task in Guangdong which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The province has been the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years.

"Police will increase rewards to locals who tip them off about clues that lead to solving drug and related cases," he said.