BEIJING - Since 2004, police in Southwest China's Guizhou province have dismantled 26 gun-making dens in Songtao county - a place once famous for its many residents who had worked in the gunsmithing trade, top police officer of the province said.

The same raids have led to seizures of 239 guns, mostly replicates of the semi-automatic pistol called Type 64 and artilleries, Cui Yadong, director of Guizhou provincial public security department told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Friday.

Cui, who is also a deputy to the National People's Congress, said local police confiscated 5,533 gun parts as well as 7,952 gunsmithing tools during the same period.