Chinese police have uncovered the largest international ketamine smuggling in China since 1949, seizing 1,010 kilograms of Ketamine, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The smuggling operation was uncovered on September 19 by police in the Shandong and Guangdong provinces and Hong Kong under unified coordination by the Ministry of Public Security, Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the anti-narcotics bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, said at a press conference held in Beijing Wednesday.

Guangdong police got information in July that an international drug trafficking gang planned to smuggle more than one ton of ketamine from India to Chinese mainland.

The drug was hidden in 700 barrels of chemical material and transported from India's Bombay to Yantai, in east China's Shangdong province, via Singapore and the Republic of Korea. The smugglers planned to transport the drug to south China's Guangdong Province for sale.

Police detained six suspects in Yantai and seized 1,010 kg of ketamine and 80,000 yuan of illicit funds.

Three major suspects confessed that they aimed to open a new channel for smuggling drugs via Yantai.

One of the major suspects, Kung Ka Sam, a Canadian Chinese, remains at large. The ministry is contacting the International Criminal Police Organization to issue an order to arrest him, said Liu.

He said drug traffickers used to smuggle drugs from overseas to the Chinese mainland via Guangdong and Fujian in south and east China, or southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Since Chinese police had stepped up their crackdown on drug smuggling in the region, the smugglers tried to look for new channels in northern China, said Liu.

"Chinese police dare not relax supervision and management at all ports, and will not give a chance to the drug smugglers," Liu added.

Source: Xinhua