Video shows illegal guns and other weapons on display at the weapon destruction event Monday in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province. Video: Guo Yuandan/GTOver 100,000 illegal guns, including those used by the US military and police, and explosives were destroyed on Monday by police in 154 Chinese cities.
The events were held in key venues including Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Fuzhou in East China's Fujian Province, Yulin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Luzhou in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
They were held to "secure the grand celebration of the founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China this year," according to the
Ministry of Public Security on Monday.
149 other Chinese cities held similar events, which were broadcast by major Chinese media outlets, including China Central Television (CCTV).
A Global Times reporter in Wuhan noticed nine of the illegal guns were the same type used by US police officers and the military.
The illegal weapons destroyed on Monday were either confiscated or turned over to the police across the country since last year. They include 107,000 illegal air guns and shotguns and a large cache of explosives, including dynamite and detonators.
Private ownership of guns is strictly prohibited in China.
Monday's events were the second of its kind after the country launched a two-year campaign to crack down on illegal guns and explosives in February 2018. In September 2018, more than 140,000 illegal guns and explosives were destroyed in 146 cities.
Police for the first time revealed details of what they called the largest cross-border illegal guns trafficking and smuggling case the country has ever seen, in which Wuhan police arrested 11 suspects and seized 46 parts for various guns, including some 70 firearms accessories for US guns on August 10, 2018.
As of press time, police in China had busted 16,000 cases this year involving illegal guns and explosives, cracked down on 163 criminal gangs and 117 criminal "dens," and handled 17,000 criminal suspects.
Official police data shows that the number of cases involving illegal guns and explosives in China has dropped by 20 percent year-on-year between January and July.
Newspaper headline: Chinese cities destroy tens of thousands of illegal guns, explosives
