GUANGZHOU - Guangdong provincial people's procuratorate announced Wednesday that 12 people had been arrested on suspicion of selling drugs and sending them by courier to the United States.

Around 11 kg of ketamine powder, a type of synthetic drug, are involved, the procuratorate said.

Between February 2014 and May 2015, the gang bought the powder in Huizhou City and placed it into various plastic bags of coffee, oatmeal and facial masks at a rented house in Yangchun City. The suspects then delivered the drugs to Shenzhen City, where they were sent to the U.S. by express courier, according to the procuratorate.

The Report on Drug Situation in China 2014 said drug smuggling is rampant and is "more and more organized and professional and carried out in covert and cunning ways and through multiple and constantly changing channels."

New methods including trafficking online, by post, and by courier have posed new challenges to law enforcement agencies.