12 Arrested in Taiyuan Illegal E-cigarette Operation Worth Over RMB 1 Million

Xinghualing Branch Successfully Cracks a Series of Illegal E-cigarette Operation Cases

Recently, the Xinghualing Branch successfully dismantled a criminal gang involved in the illegal sale of e-cigarettes, arresting 12 suspects, recovering RMB 243,000 in illegal proceeds, and seizing goods with a total case value of more than RMB 1 million.

In January 2023, during routine work, the Food, Drug and Environmental Crime Investigation Brigade of the Xinghualing Branch, together with Taiyuan’s tobacco inspection authorities, discovered that a man in the district was selling large quantities of e-cigarettes at a night market without obtaining a tobacco retail license. They also found that several other stalls at the same night market were selling e-cigarettes without licenses. Under the unified deployment of the branch party committee, the Food, Drug and Environmental Crime Investigation Brigade joined forces with three police stations—Yangjiayu, Gulou, and Xinghualing—to form a special task force. After two months of meticulous work, officers traveled to multiple locations including Changsha in Hunan, Zhangzhou in Fujian, and Shenzhen in Guangdong, and arrested seven stall operators suspected of illegally selling e-cigarettes, including Zhang Mousheng (61, from Yangqu County) and Bao Moujie (40, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang), as well as five upstream suppliers including Zhang Moulin (23, from Changsha, Hunan) and Wu Mou (20, from Zhangzhou, Fujian).

Investigators found that since October 2022, stall operators such as Zhang Mousheng and Bao Mou had illegally purchased multiple brands of e-cigarette products from upstream suppliers such as Zhang Moulin and Wu Mou. Without obtaining any administrative licenses from the tobacco monopoly authorities, they illegally sold these products at night markets, roadside mobile stalls, phone screen protector shops, and other venues in Taiyuan. Individual business volumes ranged from RMB 50,000 to RMB 200,000, with total illegal sales exceeding RMB 1 million.

As of now, criminal compulsory measures have been taken against all 12 suspects in accordance with the law.