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Crackdown on illegal firearms leads to major busts in Jiangsu
By Zhang Xuanchen |
December 23, 2010, Thursday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
MORE than 500 suspects have been caught manufacturing illegal firearms, gun parts and explosives and selling them online, police said in Jiangsu Province.
Jiangsu police said they caught 540 suspects, while seizing 590 homemade shotguns, 150,000 bullets, 640,000 gun parts and nearly 940 kilograms of explosives during a crackdown, launched in May, on the illegal gun trade, Yangzte Evening News reported today.
Police said the suspects were from four different rings and that they tracked online shops registered in Wuxi City, Jiangsu.
An alleged mastermind of one ring, Zhou Zhaoping, a jobless gun enthusiast, was said to have opened three online shops in 2008 selling what he called "home accessories." The home accessories were actually firearms, according to officers.
People interested in the illegal weapons could purchase what they wanted provided they knew the code words. In Zhou's shop a "plastic tube" meant a gun barrel, a "bottle" was a gunstock while a "plastic cover" was a shell, the newspaper said.
According to the report, Zhou told police he started selling gun parts so people could assemble their own gun from his "Kuangrong Plastic Accessory Maker" shop in May 2008. His suppliers were local machinery factories. Police said factory representatives told them they didn't know they were making gun parts.
By referring to designs and handbooks on the Internet, Zhou expanded his business to gun making early last year, the report said, citing police. His clients were from around the country and reportedly contacted Zhou and other group members via instant messengers. Payment for guns and gun parts was made through online banking services. Zhou eventually opened two more shops and hired hundreds of employees due to booming demand.
Zhou's shops were said to have sold 57 shotguns and more than 100,000 gun accessories by the time he was caught on June 8. Other syndicate members were caught in July.
The other three groups were busted in August.
Jiangsu police said they caught 540 suspects, while seizing 590 homemade shotguns, 150,000 bullets, 640,000 gun parts and nearly 940 kilograms of explosives during a crackdown, launched in May, on the illegal gun trade, Yangzte Evening News reported today.
Police said the suspects were from four different rings and that they tracked online shops registered in Wuxi City, Jiangsu.
An alleged mastermind of one ring, Zhou Zhaoping, a jobless gun enthusiast, was said to have opened three online shops in 2008 selling what he called "home accessories." The home accessories were actually firearms, according to officers.
People interested in the illegal weapons could purchase what they wanted provided they knew the code words. In Zhou's shop a "plastic tube" meant a gun barrel, a "bottle" was a gunstock while a "plastic cover" was a shell, the newspaper said.
According to the report, Zhou told police he started selling gun parts so people could assemble their own gun from his "Kuangrong Plastic Accessory Maker" shop in May 2008. His suppliers were local machinery factories. Police said factory representatives told them they didn't know they were making gun parts.
By referring to designs and handbooks on the Internet, Zhou expanded his business to gun making early last year, the report said, citing police. His clients were from around the country and reportedly contacted Zhou and other group members via instant messengers. Payment for guns and gun parts was made through online banking services. Zhou eventually opened two more shops and hired hundreds of employees due to booming demand.
Zhou's shops were said to have sold 57 shotguns and more than 100,000 gun accessories by the time he was caught on June 8. Other syndicate members were caught in July.
The other three groups were busted in August.
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