ZHENGZHOU, Dec. 16-- Chinese police have busted a drug ring operating in several provinces, police of Xuchang city in central China's Henan Province announced on Tuesday.

Police arrested 22 suspects, with about 18 kilograms of heroin, more than 2.5 million yuan (403,649 U.S. dollars) in cash and 4 vehicles confiscated.

Police became suspicious after a villager surnamed Zhang in Xuchang's Xiangcheng county suddenly got rich in 2013. After investigating Zhang, police were led to the drug ring.

Police discovered more than 20 members had been purchasing drugs from southwest Yunnan Province and transporting them to Xiangcheng county. The drugs were distributed across the six provinces of Yunnan, Guangdong, Hunan, Hebei, Anhui and Henan.

The 22 suspects were seized from August to October. The People's Procuratorate of Xiangcheng county announced the arrest of the suspects for drug dealing and trafficking offences in December.