China mounts big raid on illegal weapons factories

Police and paramilitary personnel using armoured vehicles and helicopters raided four illegal weapons factories in southwestern China, state media said.

A thousand police and paramilitary personnel were involved in the raid on factories tucked away in the remote, forested border of Chongqing, Hunan and Guizhou, the reports said.

Investigators had tracked guns used in recent crimes in Chongqing, a large inland port city, to the arsenals.

The hour-long, pre-dawn raid on Friday netted dozens of suspects and copied guns, the Xinhua news agency said.

"The manufacturing and selling of the guns would not only pose a severe safety threat to Chongqing and neighbouring areas, but if the guns spread, they would also create a major security threat to central and western parts of China," the Liberation Army Daily said in a report on the attack.

Although gun ownership is illegal in China and shootings are rare, criminal gangs occasionally have armed themselves from arsenals holding decommissioned military weapons.

On Saturday, an unidentified gunman opened fire on five men at an outdoor teahouse in Guanghan, a town in Sichuan province in southwestern China, killing three and injuring one, Xinhua said.

The Ministry of Public Security has ordered the elimination of all illegal arsenals before the Chinese New Year holiday in late January, Xinhua added.