Guangzhou, 22 Jul (China News Service) -- Guangzhou Customs reported on 22 July that the Guangzhou Customs organized a special operation of "Struggle 15" to crack down on the smuggling of precious stones, successfully smashed 14 criminal gangs that organized water passengers to smuggle colored gemstones into the country by means of car clips between Guangdong and Hong Kong and false concealment of international express mail, arrested 21 criminal suspects, and seized a batch of colored gemstones involved in the case, with a case value of about 1.2 billion yuan.
In the early morning of May 18, under the unified command of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, Guangzhou Customs, with the assistance of Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu and other customs and local public security in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, dispatched 232 customs police officers, divided into 47 action groups, to carry out unified investigation and arrest operations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Chongqing, Chengdu and other seven places, arresting 21 suspected smuggling suspects and seizing 1256 colored gemstones suspected of smuggling at the arrest site.
The smuggled colored gemstones seized in this case mainly include rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other varieties. Ruby, sapphire, emerald and diamond are recognized by the international jewelry industry as the "four precious gemstones", is a long-standing decorative gemstone, in recent years in the Chinese mainland market by consumers loved, the price is rising year by year, criminals are only interested in profit, at the expense of desperate smuggling crimes.
During the special operation, the smuggling gang headed by Xiao Mou, which was arrested by the customs anti-smuggling police, collected colored gemstones ordered by mainland cargo owners in South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and other places in Hong Kong, and organized "water passengers" to smuggle them into Hong Kong in the form of personal carrying and luggage. After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in early 2020, Xiao's gang bribed the drivers of the license plates in Guangdong and Hong Kong to smuggle colored gemstones into the country. After Receiving goods in Shenzhen, Xiao's gang distributed colored gemstones to mainland shippers through express delivery and charged intermediate fees. Xiao himself also set up a shop in a jewelry city in Shenzhen, selling some smuggled colored gemstones.
Another smuggling gang headed by Wei Mou bought colored gemstones from Southeast Asia, smuggled them into the country through international express channels, and evaded customs supervision by falsely declaring the name of the product and understating the price. (End)
Source: China News Network