Police arrested over 1,000 people in one operation after surrounding a KTV in Dongguan in the small hours of May 9. The reason? Evidence suggests that ketamine was being taken in over 50 of the rooms, according to Shenzhen Satellite Television.

Suspects after being rounded up.

According to one eyewitness, the suspects had to be frogmarched into more than 130 police vans. Police found evidence in each of the rooms at the KTV of the Junhuang Hotel in Zhongtang Village that patrons were taking the drug, said a source familiar with the matter.

The operation involved criminal police, the drugs squad and several teams of cadets and led to raids of 57 KTV rooms in which some patrons were caught red-handed.

As well as doing blood tests and urine samples on the suspects, and investigation into how this was made possible is ongoing.

In February, a video aimed at cleaning up Dongguan’s image as a sin city was produced. This case may leave it back at square one.