HONG KONG - More than 3 tons of crystal methamphetamine were seized in a village notorious for producing narcotics in China, authorities said.
Boshe village has supplied over a third of the country's crystal meth over the past three years, the provincial public security department said in a statement late on Thursday. Some 182 people were arrested.
More than 20 percent of households in Boshe, which is located in the southern province of Guangdong, are directly involved in or have a stake in drug production and trafficking rings, officials said.
Local media reported that village officials were among those arrested in Sunday's dawn raid.
Around 22 tons of raw materials for drug production were also seized, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Police did not reveal the value of the seizure, although the South China Morning Post said the crystal meth, also known as ice, was worth an estimated $232 million in Hong Kong.
Guangdong police have detained 10,836 suspects and seized about 9 tons of drugs since launching the "Thunder Operations" campaign against drug crimes on July 30, according to Xinhua.
Methamphetamine is China's second most popular drug after heroin.
