Smuggled ivory tusks

POLICE and customs authorities in Guangdong Province have busted an ivory smuggling ring, arresting 20 suspects and seizing nearly 7.5 tons of ivory tusks.

Guangdong police were tipped off in January and found a smuggling gang bringing ivory tusks from Nigeria and other foreign countries and smuggling them into China.

On March 30, police and customs authorities captured 20 suspects in Beijing as well as in the provinces of Anhui, Shandong, Fujian and Guangdong, and seized 2,748 ivory tusks weighing a total of 7.48 tons.

Drugs seized

POLICE in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have detained one suspect and seized more than 7 kg of drugs at a village store, local authorities said yesterday.

In mid-May, police in the city of Baotou found a truck driver suspected of taking caffeine sodium benzoate pills who said he bought the drug from a convenience store in Changhan Village.

On May 21, police detained the shop owner surnamed Chen and seized 20 ecstasy pills and more than 7.15 kg of caffeine sodium benzoate pills.

According to Chen, a pill of caffeine sodium benzoate was sold for about 35 yuan (US$5.07), with a profit of 50 percent. Most buyers were truck drivers.

2 dead, 4 missing

TWO people have been confirmed dead and four missing after a landslide hit a temporary work shed in Guangdong Province.

At 2:30 a.m. yesterday, the landslide hit a three-story shed in Dagangping Village in the city of Yangjiang, burying six people.