Chinese Gun Runners on Trial

(Qinghai Province, China) In one of the largest arms-smuggling cases in China's history, 17 Chinese are being tried in Xining, the capital of the remote western province of Qinghai. They are accused of buying more than 900 guns and 1,500 gun accessories in Pakistan for transport into China, where private ownership of firearms is illegal.

From the Daily Times:

It was not clear whether the guns were headed for Muslim separatists in Xinjiang, who have been fighting for decades for an independent "East Turkestan" homeland and whom Beijing calls terrorists, or to meet demand amid a growing wave of violent crime that has come with China’s economic reforms.

The trial is expected to wrap up tomorrow and the accused gun-runners could be sentenced to death. No information is provided regarding the source of the guns.