Chinese police have arrested 37 alleged gang members on charges of illegally trading and possessing firearms and other crimes in north China's Hebei Province.

Police in Tangshan city seized 330 rounds of ammunition and 35 firearms, including 19 sporting guns, four small-bore rifles, nine handguns and three other guns, a spokesman with the Hebei Provincial Department of Public Security told Xinhua on Friday.

Alleged ringleader Yang Shukuan and his accomplices were also charged with operating a criminal gang, intimidation, theft, fraud, inciting violence, fighting in public and disorder.

Yang is suspected of swindling more than 180 million yuan (22.5 million U.S. dollars) from four companies and an individual since May 2005.

A company in neighboring Tianjin municipality was suing the Huayun Industrial Group Co. Ltd. owned by Yang for failing to pay debts of 320 million yuan (40 million U.S. dollars).

"The gang gravely disrupted Tangshan, especially the Guye District and Qianxi County," the spokesman said, noting that police had investigated 40 crimes allegedly linked to the gang.

The industrial city of Tangshan, 200 kilometers east of Beijing, is commonly known for having been struck by one of the deadliest earthquakes of the 20th Century. Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed 242,000 people and injured 164,000 others in 1976.

Yang, 38, of the Hui ethnic group, was a political advisor for the Tangshan municipal government. He had been running his gang since 1998 when he gathered a group of ex-convicts and unemployed people. In May 2000, Yang founded the Huayun Industrial Group Co. Ltd. with a registered capital of 100 million yuan (12.5 million U.S. dollars) as a cover for his organized crimes. The company was engaged in the trade, garment, food and mining industries.

Local police began an undercover investigation in May last year after obtaining information from anonymous sources, and Yang and five of his accomplices were arrested on March 19, the police spokesman said.

Yang's came into the public spotlight when photos of his armored car and other military vehicles and luxury cars were posted on the Internet.

Yang, who is being held in the provincial capital Shijiangzhuang, allegedly said the armored car was a fake made from remodeling an old Russian-style car.

The police spokesman said 17 vehicles, including four for special purposes, were confiscated.

More than 40 people were involved in the gang and almost 100 experienced police officers from across the province were still carrying out investigations in the case, he said.

A police officer in Tangshan, Dai Yunlong, had been arrested on May 10 on charges of selling two handguns to Yang, he said.

Chinese laws prohibits the illegal possession, production and trade of firearms and explosives. Police have confiscated 12,350 tons of explosives and 502,000 guns in the past five years, which they say has led to a drop in the number of explosive and gun violence cases.

"We are now going all out to find suspects who are still at large, probe police gun management problems and identify the people who protected Yang, including local Party and government officials and police officers," the spokesman said.

Source: Xinhua