Drug plant busted in Liaoning, 18 detained

Police in northeast China's Liaoning Province said Thursday that they busted a drug plant and detained 18 suspects.

The provincial public security department said that they noticed some suspicious chemical materials were transported to a plant located in a remote village in Tieling County in the city of Tieling in April.

Meanwhile, a group of people from other provinces who produced ephedrine also appeared in the province.

Hiding away in the mountains, police found many cameras were installed around the plant, and people were employed to guard the plant and report.

The investigation confirmed that the drug manufacturing and transport ring involved around 20 people from Liaoning, Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Local police launched raids in Liaoning and Fujian on September 1, seizing 4.5 tonnes of methcathinone and over 160 tonnes of raw materials for producing drugs.

The case involves nearly 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million), police said.