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Police in south China's Guangdong Province reported on Thursday that they've seized nearly three tons of methamphetamines or "meth" and over 20 tons of the raw materials used to manufacture the drug.
The drugs were seized in what officials consider as the largest police operation in the history of the province. The raid involved over 3000 heavily armed police including personnel from the provincial Public Security Bureau, the provincial Armed Police Corps and the municipal polices forces of Shantou, Huizhou, Meizhou and Heyuan in a coordinated effort of 109 separate raids.
The focus of the operation was Boshe village. Authorities report that the village and its surrounding areas was home to 18 meth production and trafficking rings. Police have long considered the region, centered around Lufeng, as a base for the production of illegal drugs. Sources report that in recent years, the region was producing over 30% of the national meth supply.
Even in a region known for its high drug production, Boshe was a leader with more than 20% of its households involved in some way or another in the local drug economy. Because of its tight-knit community, police have had difficulty in running smaller-scale anti-drug operations. Furthermore, the geography of the village and the density of the population made it difficult to operate anything more than a motorcycle within the village.
Accordingly, in a three-pronged offensive, police moved in on land, sea and air to first surround the village and cut off all exit points. Once the police were able to take control of the area, they then moved in on foot to conduct "house by house" sweeps to round up suspects.
In total, over 180 arrests were made. Police found some villagers armed with AK-47 machine guns and homemade hand grenades.
The operation was part of a larger province-wide anti-drug operation code named "Thunder." Since operation "Thunder" began last July, police have resolved 9,311 drug cases, arrested 10,836 suspects and seized over eight tons of drugs.
