Chinese police seize record number of weapons

Police in China's southwestern Guizhou Province have seized a record number of illegal guns and knives in a cross-province raid that also captured 15 suspects in a bid to control increasing violent attacks.
The police busted a gang involved in manufacturing and selling weapons and confiscated about 15,000 guns and 120,000 controlled knives, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
It was the largest such seizure ever in China, it said.
The police found out after a four-month investigation that the gang's business covered 27 provinces and municipalities, including Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan.
China in recent months witnessed numerous knife attacks by disgruntled individuals targeting civilians including the school children.

In a major attack, militants from Xinjiang region carried knife attacks in a railway station at Kunming last month in which 33 people were killed over 140 others injured.

The gang, based in Shaodong, neighboring Hunan Province, owned several warehouses where many guns and controlled knives were stored.
Du Chuang, a police officer with the Guiyang Public Security Bureau, said the gang was running a family business in the name of a cutter factory.
China bans the manufacturing and selling of guns as part of its efforts to crack down on violent crimes.
Private citizens are not allowed to own guns.

In 2008, the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice requiring sellers to record the identities of people who purchase controlled knives.