GUIYANG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Police in southwest China's Guizhou Province have seized a record number of illegal guns and knives in a cross-province raid that also led to the capture of more than 30 suspects.

Police busted a gang involved in manufacturing and selling weapons and confiscated about 17,000 guns and 120,000 knives, said a statement issued by the Guizhou Provincial Public Security Department.

It was the largest such seizure ever in China.

A four-month police investigation found that the gang's business covered 27 provinces and municipalities, including Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan. The business was worth more than 60 million yuan (9.6 million U.S. dollars).

The China Daily newspaper cited Du Chuang, a police officer with the Guiyang Public Security Bureau, as saying that the gang was a family business, running a knife factory.

The manufacturing and selling of guns is banned in China. Civilians 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.

CAPTURED

A crackdown, led by the Ministry of Public Security and the Guizhou Provincial Public Security Department, was launched after a robbery involving guns in September in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou.

Four suspects confessed they had bought guns for the robbery from a dealer in Sichuan Province. Police captured the dealer, from whom they learned that the guns were manufactured and sold by a man surnamed Chen in Shaodong County, central China's Hunan Province.

After finding the gang owned a number of warehouses in several provinces where many guns and knives were stored, police formed a special task force team in November and began making arrests on March 1.

After being arrested, Chen confessed that the deals were done over the telephone. They would deliver weapons to a designated address if buyers deposited cash in the gang's bank account. No meeting was arranged and no detailed information was left, he said.

Police seized three trucks of guns and knives in Hunan, weighing 50 tonnes.

HUGE PROFITS

Although it is illegal to manufacture and sell guns, many are tempted by the huge profits on offer.

Villages in Songtao County of Tongren City in remote Guizhou used to have a tradition of making gunpowder before the founding of New China. From the 1980s, poverty-stricken villagers resumed their gun-manufacturing businesses.

According to police, the cost of making a gun is about 100 yuan, while the sales price may reach 5,000 yuan.

In 2006, police in Tongren City uncovered 15 villages involved in the illegal manufacturing and selling of guns.

Gao Yifei, a law professor with the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said gun fanatics in cities and farmers in mountainous, forestry and mining areas used to be the main possessors of the weapons. But in recent years, social disputes, buying power and a rampant black market have all led to more civilians purchasing guns.

In June 2012, the Ministry of Public Security launched a campaign to clamp down on illegal guns. More than 100,000 guns have been confiscated and destroyed.

"Police should further strengthen the crackdown on the manufacturing and selling chain," Gao said.