SHENYANG, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Police in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, apprehended 56 drug dealers and seized 44.72 kg of methamphetamine.

Meanwhile, a total of 1.3 million yuan (195,000 U.S. dollars) and seven vehicles used for drug trafficking were confiscated, the public security department in Shenyang said on Thursday.

In September 2017, a man with a large amount of drugs in Shenyang caught the attention of local police. An investigation showed that the man was associated with a drug trafficking gang, which had smuggled drugs from southern Guangdong Province to Shenyang.

Police said the busting of the gang had successfully cut off the drug trafficking route from Guangdong to Liaoning and further to the wider northeastern region.

According to the police, of the 56 suspects who were seized between April and May 2018, 37 have been arrested officially and are awaiting further sentencing, while the other 19 received administrative penalties.