Police in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region said Monday they have seized 36.2 kg of heroin, the largest amount of the drug to be smuggled to the region.
Five suspects have been arrested, according to the Public Security Bureau of Yinchuan, the regional capital.
Three of them were captured in southwest China's Yunnan Province while they were transporting the drugs to Ningxia. The three were arrested as part of a joint operation between police from Ningxia and Yunnan.
Two others were caught in a hotel in Yinchuan.
Under the country's Criminal Law, smuggling, trafficking, transporting or making 50 grams of heroin or more is punishable by 15 years in jail, life imprisonment or the death penalty.
In March, a court in east China's Fujian Province sentenced three men to death for selling 10.8 kilograms of drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and ketamine.
In 2012, police cracked some 120,000 drug-related crimes and arrested 130,000 suspects, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
The country confiscated a total of 7.3 tonnes of heroin, 16.2 tonnes of methamphetamine, 4.7 tonnes of ketamine and more than 5,800 tonnes of chemical agents used to make drugs last year.
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