In what sounds like a real life version of 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. Professor Zhang worked at a university in Wuhan. But he held a second job - as a drug dealer. The whole process - manufacture, distribution and smuggling -  you name it, he did 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. 

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 man's 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, and all eight suspects were convicted.