Police call for real names on packages

Police departments across Guangdong province are urging logistics and express delivery companies to expand their cooperation with law enforcement to fight gun trafficking and related crimes, which increasingly rely on the Internet for sales and communications.

Xie Zhiguang, a senior officer in the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security, urged the adoption of a real-name system for deliveries by express services in the province.

Many guns and guns parts delivered by such services have been seized in past months, but the names of senders and receivers were all fake, making it difficult for the police to detain suspects, Xie said.

The police seized 5,597 assorted guns and more than 331,000 rounds of ammunition in a campaign code-named Blue Arrow-3 that took place Nov 28-30, according to Li Shihua, deputy director of the investigation bureau. Weapons seized during the campaign include semi-automatic rifles, machine guns and pistols.

"A total of 885 suspects have been detained," Li told a news conference in Guangzhou on Thursday. "The police have also busted several secret gun production and sales locations in the province and swept up a number of criminal gangs that produced and sold guns, or that used guns to commit crimes."

Li said Blue Arrow-3 has dealt a heavy blow to gun and related crimes that were once active in Guangdong, which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The police will never relax their vigilance as gun-related crimes pose a serious threat to local people's lives and properties, Li said. He left open the possibility that more special operations will be launched in coming months.

Guangdong has been the main theater in the Ministry of Public Security's fight against gun crimes for the past four years. The province has had the highest incidence of gun crimes in the country for decades.

A police officer in Guangdong who did not want to be named attributed the growing number of gun-related cases to the low cost and high profit associated with weapons trading.

"Meanwhile, people can now easily learn online how to produce guns," the officer said.

In addition to the locally produced guns, other weapons seized in Guangdong had been smuggled in from Vietnam through Yunnan province, the officer said.

Li urged local residents to actively report weapons and related crimes to police to help maintain social order in Guangdong, a window of the country's reform and opening-up drive.

According to a statement from the provincial public security department, locals will be rewarded up to 50,000 yuan ($8,200) for successful tips in cases involving weapons.

The largest rewards will go to those who provide information that leads the police to illegal production locations, or that results in the seizure of at least 10 guns, the statement said.