Police in north China's Hebei Province have arrested 45 suspects and seized 20 tonnes of drug production materials while busting eight drug factories and warehouses.
Police authorities in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang Wednesday said they received information at the end of 2017 that a batch of phenylacetone, a raw material for drug manufacturing, had been illicitly transported into the city.
A follow-up investigation found that a suspect, surnamed Pu, bought 61 tonnes of phenylacetone from January to May 2017, producing and trafficking drugs with accomplices.
Police finally found the suspects had produced or sold drugs in Wuji county of Hebei, Xilingol of neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Pingxiang and Ganzhou of east China's Jiangxi Province in July.
Police launched simultaneous raids in the four places on July 30, detaining 45 suspects and seizing over 20 tonnes of drugs production materials.
Principal suspect Pu confessed to having purchased drug production materials several times as well as producing and selling drugs since 2017. Another suspect, surnamed Xiao, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling.
Further investigation is ongoing.
