China cracks down on smuggling with over 5,700 cases investigated

Anti-smuggling departments of customs across China carried out a series of special campaigns targeting smuggling in 2024, investigating more than 5,700 cases, the Ministry of Public Security said.

About 64 percent of these cases were criminal and involved tax evasion, according to the ministry. The departments focused on key goods such as refined oil, cigarettes and frozen marine products.

As part of these efforts, customs in Fuzhou, Fujian province, cracked a major case of refined oil smuggling.

According to a statement issued by the General Administration of Customs in November, the case involved multiple organizations that have been smuggling oil at sea since 2021. The anti-smuggling bureau of Fuzhou customs, in collaboration with Fuzhou police and customs and police in neighboring Zhejiang province, captured 34 suspects and seized four boats and with 3.31 million yuan ($451,000) in cash. Investigators discovered that 75,000 metric tons of refined oil, worth 690 million yuan, had been smuggled.

China's customs authorities have also ramped up efforts to tackle the reselling of goods purchased under the offshore duty-free shopping policy in the Hainan Free Trade Port, a practice prohibited by the government.

Since 2024, customs have collaborated with police and other authorities to investigate 495 criminal cases where offenders either resold duty-free goods purchased in Hainan province or bought the goods using other people's duty-free shopping quotas.

In one case disclosed in December, the General Administration of Customs reported that customs officers at Haikou Meilan International Airport in Hainan detected 13 departing passengers who had purchased 52 duty-free cellphones worth more than 450,000 yuan. Those involved admitted that the purchases were organized for profit.

Last year, anti-smuggling authorities also investigated 601 criminal cases involving smuggling through China's pilot free trade zones, with more than 32 billion yuan involved in these cases.

Efforts were also intensified to combat the smuggling of weapons, ammunition, illicit drugs and other prohibited items.

Customs investigated 46 cases of weapon and ammunition smuggling and 772 cases of drug smuggling, seizing 2.09 tons of methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs during the same period.

Additionally, customs investigated 231 cases involving the smuggling of endangered species and related products, along with 53 cases of smuggling waste.

China has banned the import of solid waste since 2021.

In May 2024, the anti-smuggling bureau of Shanghai customs handled a waste-import case involving 148 containers of waste weighing over 3,000 tons, including 20 containers of domestic garbage. Two suspects were detained in connection with the case.