Fake home renovators busted making drugs

WUHAN－Like a scene out of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, people posing as household renovators were caught manufacturing drugs in apartments in Hubei province, police said on Monday.

Officers raided three drug manufacturing workshops in late August and seized 13 suspects, according to the police. They confiscated more than 20 kilograms of yaba (a stimulant combining methamphetamine and caffeine), 20 kg of drug materials, drugmaking equipment, two hand grenades, four pistols and several imitation pistols and bullets.

Because the drugmaking equipment－which weighs around 1 metric ton－was noisy, the suspects usually used it in neighborhoods where many renovations were underway, the police said. They also set up a shock-absorption device on the bottom of the machine to dampen the noise.

A resident in the neighborhood told police that he heard loud noises inside the apartment but just thought it was people renovating.

Each gang member had a specific role, the police said, with younger members learning online how to make drugs, while older members sold the products and provided financial support.

Currently, eight members of the gang have been detained by police.