The police in southwest Yunnan Province broke up four rings engaged in gambling, drug and firearms in one go and seized 185 suspects and 88 firearms, a local police spokesman said on Saturday. The sweep represented nearly a year of work by law enforcement authorities.

Police arrested the first suspect, Huang Yirong, at the Kunming Railway Station on Jan. 31. He was carrying 1,100 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride -- commonly known as "ice" -- and three pistols.

Huang confessed that he was transporting the contraband under the orders of a man named Nie Zhefeng, who was arrested the next day.

Acting on Nie's confession, a police task force raided two firearms workshops run by two different rings in Baima town, Qiubei County, on Feb. 13. But one of the chief suspects, Zhang Yimian, escaped.

The police tracked Zhang down by following clues and cracked a drug ring and a gambling ring in the process. Their hunt for Zhang spanned three provinces and ended in his arrest in October.

In all, they arrested 185 suspects in seven provinces, seized 88 guns and 2,700 bullets as well as gun-making equipment and parts, and confiscated 1,100 gm of "ice", among other items.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)