(Source: CGTN)

In what sounds like the hit American TV drama Breaking Bad, a university professor in central China's Hubei province has been sentenced to life imprisonment for manufacturing illegal drugs known as "bath salts". 

White powder, a secret drug lab, and a chemistry professor. Put all the pieces together, and you get a real-life Walter White. Meet the master chef, Professor Zhang, who worked at a university in Wuhan. His second job - a drug dealer. The job description - manufacture, distribution and smuggling, you name it.

It all started in 2014, when customs personnel in Wuhan discovered suspicious powder in several packages sent to overseas destinations. It caught the attention of the narcotics police.

"It takes three to four stages to produce and sell the illegal drugs. And each individual is responsible for one stage. From manufacture to distribution, there must be an entire network behind it," said Peng Zhengde, Deputy Director General, Anti-smuggling Bureau, Wuhan Customs.

Police identified the drugs as "bath salts", a synthetic drug made infamous by incidents of psychotic attacks in gruesome zombie-like behavior.

In 2012, Miami, a man who might have been under the influence of the drug, chewed off the face of another man. The attack only ended with the fatal shooting by police.

Zhang cooked 193 kilograms of the drug in a factory in a suburban industrial park.

In 2015, after a six-month investigation, law enforcement finally busted Zhang's entire operation.  All eight suspects were convicted.  Breaking Bad got broken.