BEIJING, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Police in southwestern China claim to have made Asia's biggest drug bust after seizing 672.9 kilograms (1,480 lbs) of heroin and arresting 20 members of an international smuggling ring, state media reported.
It is the largest case of its kind ever recorded in Asia, China's Minister of Public Security Jia Chunwang was quoted as saying.
Police found the heroin in two timber trucks trying to enter China's Yunnan province from Myanmar on November 8 spurring the manhunt that took nearly two months, Xinhua news agency said.
The investigation also yielded $571,400 in different currencies, Xinhua said.
Myanmar has long been one of the world's biggest heroin producers and China's addicts used to be concentrated around Yunnan province and other areas near the border, but in recent years the heroin trade has spread throughout all of the country's major cities.
Government statistics reported that police seized 8,000 kg (17,640 lb) of heroin in the first nine months of last year, a sharp rise from the year before.
