Police in south China's Guangdong Province have detained 13 suspects for allegedly smuggling about 22,000 tonnes of frozen meat, local customs said Friday.
The suspects were captured Thursday morning in Guangdong and its neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Guangzhou customs said.
An initial investigation showed that the ring has smuggled about 280-million-yuan (42.5 million U.S. dollars) worth of frozen meat since 2014.
The ring bought frozen chicken wings and pork trotters from overseas companies and transported the meat to Hong Hong and then to Vietnam, before smuggling the goods into the Chinese mainland.
The case is under further investigation.
