GUIZHOU, April 14 -- Police in southwest China's Guizhou Province have seized a record number of illegal guns and knives in a cross-province raid that also captured 15 suspects, China Daily reported on Monday.

The police busted a gang involving in manufacturing and selling weapons and confiscated about 15,000 guns and 120,000 controlled knives.

It was the largest such seizure ever in China, the newspaper said.

The police found out after a four-month investigation that the gang's business covered 27 provinces and municipalities, including Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan.

The gang, based in Shaodong, neighboring Hunan Province, owned several warehouses where many guns and controlled knives were stored.

The newspaper cited Du Chuang, a police officer with the Guiyang Public Security Bureau, as saying that the gang was a family business in the name of a cutter factory.

China bans the manufacturing and selling of guns as part of its efforts to crack down on violent crimes. Private citizens are not allowed to own guns.

In 2008, the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice requiring sellers to record the identities of people who purchase controlled knives.