Seventeen people were charged with smuggling arms from Pakistan into Xinjiang and Qinghai as the court in Northwest China's Qinghai Province heard on Tuesday.

The case involved more than 900 guns and over 1,500 gun accessories, making it one of the largest arms smuggling cases the country has seen, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The alleged ringleader Ma Zeying, and Li Zhi purchased guns and accessories in Pakistan between 1995 to 2004 and sold them in Kashgar of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province.

The suspects, residents from the two regions, with the youngest aged 29 and the oldest 56, allegedly formed a gun-smuggling ring.

They concealed the weapons in the lining of suitcases, or hid separate parts of the guns in fruit crates.The public security bureaux in the two regions started investigations in August 2004.

In January and March 2005, the Haidong Prefecture People's Procurator of Qinghai Province indicted the suspects at the Haidong Intermediate People's Court for weapons smuggling, trading and concealing.

Some defendants may face the death penalty if convicted, said Chao Lanjun, who is with the Haidong Intermediate People's Court.

The trial will last until Saturday and with sentencing expected to be carried out in two weeks.

Recent years have seen a rise in illegal weapons manufacturing and trading, seriously threatening the fabric of society.

Many of the guns used in murders in Qinghai Proviince were produced in the Hualong Hui Autonomous County, in the province, sources in the local police were quoted by Xinhua as saying.

A former judge Li Tongwen from Hebei Province was arrested in June in Beijing for allegedly selling guns and bullets made in Hualong on the Internet.

Hualong, a poverty-stricken region, has become a major illegal gun manufacturing area since the 1990s.

In Hualong, such illegal activities have been carried out among family members in out of the way caves and tunnels.

The cost of a gun is less than 100 yuan (US$12.3) but it can sell for 10,000 yuan (US$1,233) after resale.

To counter the illegal gun-making business and prevent it from spreading to other places in the country, Qinghai police have made great efforts to fight the crime.

Forty-six suspects involved in gun trafficking have been arrested in the past three months.

Source: China Daily