Provincial paramilitary police deployed helicopters, speedboats and dogs in a huge drugs bust in which three tonnes of methamphetamine were seized in Boshe, southern China, a village where one in five households was involved in drug production or trafficking, police said in a statement.
In scenes reminiscent of US TV show Breaking Bad, drug gangs armed with AK-47s, homemade hand grenades and crossbows took on the police during the raid.
The authorities deployed 3,000 police from four cities in Guangdong province in the raid on the village, known as "the fortress of Lufeng" after the district in which it is situated.
Photographs posted online showed the police raiding a traditional village, and helicopters landing near the site of the raids. Three police officers were seriously injured during the operation, which began at 4am on December 29th.
A total of 182 suspects from 18 drug production and trafficking rings were arrested in and outside of the village, and 23 tons of raw materials for drug production were seized.
Village chief
Among those detained were a local Communist Party official and a village chief, said Guo Shaobo, deputy director general of Guangdong provincial department of public security.
He told of how the village had operated with impunity for years, in effect blockading itself against police interference.
"More than one-third of the country's total methamphetamine over the past three years came from Lufeng," Mr Guo told a news conference in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.
Interference
The raid on 77 secret drug-production sites also uncovered 260kg of the narcotic ketamine and more than 23 metric tonnes of raw materials for producing drugs.
Police all came from outside the area to ensure there were no “protective umbrellas” or interference by local officials involved in the operations, Mr Guo said.
Police also seized nine guns, 62 rounds of ammunition, a homemade bomb and knives.
The biggest suspected drug trafficker was the village chief, Cai Dongjia, and 350kg of methamphetamine was discovered at the home of Cai Hanwu, who was deputy party chief and deputy head of Boshe village.
The raid was part of “Operation Thunder”, an ongoing crackdown on illicit drugs in Guangdong that was launched in July and has resulted in the detention of 10,836 suspects and the seizure of eight tonnes of drugs.
