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Chinese police have arrested 41 people for trafficking firearms on the Internet, amid a nationwide crackdown involving the confiscation of more than 100,000 illegal guns, state press has said.
In the first case of online gun trading to surface in China, Beijing police have arrested three sellers and 38 potential buyers who agreed to purchase and pay for the arms through the Internet, the Beijing News reported.
A total of 117 guns were confiscated, mostly foreign-made "air guns" or arms that use compressed air cartridges to fire projectiles, it said. More than half of the guns were deemed to be lethal.
More than 20,000 bullets or "air gun pellets" were also confiscated, it added.
Chinese police have confiscated more than 100,000 guns since a special nationwide campaign on the illegal possession of explosives and firearms was initiated three months ago, Xinhua said in a separate report.
As of August 30, police had seized 1,648 tonnes (1,813 tons) of explosives, 3.84 million detonators, 105,000 guns and 2.3 million bullets, the report, citing the Ministry of Public Security, said.
Firearms are outlawed in China, but a booming economy has led to a growing trade in illegal firearms, police officials said at the beginning of the crackdown.
An active trade in explosives has also developed as illegal mining operations, seeking to cash in on rocketing demand for coal and mineral ores, have no legal outlet for dynamite and similar products, police said.
On Monday, in the major eastern port city of Wenzhou, a rare gun battle between rival gangs erupted in a busy marketplace in another sign of the growing availability of firearms in China, state press reports said.
Police said they believed the firearms used in the battle were homemade. So far no one has been arrested in the case, they said.
— AFP
In the first case of online gun trading to surface in China, Beijing police have arrested three sellers and 38 potential buyers who agreed to purchase and pay for the arms through the Internet, the Beijing News reported.
A total of 117 guns were confiscated, mostly foreign-made "air guns" or arms that use compressed air cartridges to fire projectiles, it said. More than half of the guns were deemed to be lethal.
More than 20,000 bullets or "air gun pellets" were also confiscated, it added.
Chinese police have confiscated more than 100,000 guns since a special nationwide campaign on the illegal possession of explosives and firearms was initiated three months ago, Xinhua said in a separate report.
As of August 30, police had seized 1,648 tonnes (1,813 tons) of explosives, 3.84 million detonators, 105,000 guns and 2.3 million bullets, the report, citing the Ministry of Public Security, said.
Firearms are outlawed in China, but a booming economy has led to a growing trade in illegal firearms, police officials said at the beginning of the crackdown.
An active trade in explosives has also developed as illegal mining operations, seeking to cash in on rocketing demand for coal and mineral ores, have no legal outlet for dynamite and similar products, police said.
On Monday, in the major eastern port city of Wenzhou, a rare gun battle between rival gangs erupted in a busy marketplace in another sign of the growing availability of firearms in China, state press reports said.
Police said they believed the firearms used in the battle were homemade. So far no one has been arrested in the case, they said.