The largest drug trafficking case cracked here last year involved the seizure of more than 238 kg of narcotics, police said yesterday.

Five people, including one foreigner, were detained, Li Guoliang, an officer with the Guangdong department of frontier police force said.

"A total of 750,000 yuan ($105,000) in cash, a sedan car and a replica pistol were also seized in the operation that took place in November," Li said.

The 238.1 kg haul included heroin, marijuana, ice, morphine, ketamine, ecstasy pills and cocaine, he said.

A drug trafficking channel and distribution center that used to be active in the province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao, had been destroyed with the capture of the gang, Li said.

In October, border police established a task force to investigate reports that a drug trafficking gang had smuggled large quantities of drugs into Guangzhou as a starting point for their distribution to other parts of the country.

The bust came in early November, after a weeklong investigation by task force officers in Guangzhou's downtown districts of Liwan, Yuexiu and Baiyun.

A local resident nicknamed A Biao and a foreign drug trafficker were detained on Nov 2 last year.

The three remaining gang members, surnamed Xiao, Hu and Zhou, were arrested the following day.

Most of the drugs were found in the suspects' homes in Guangzhou.

(China Daily February 27, 2008)