Case value exceeds RMB 50 million, more than 20 people involved! Jinhua, Zhejiang cracks major illeg

Suspects arrested in the case. Photo provided by Ye Zifeng

China News Service, Zhejiang, May 6 (Wang Yifei and Ye Zifeng) — Reporters learned from the Zhejiang Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Bureau on the 6th that the province recently cracked a major illegal vaping case spanning multiple provinces, with a case value exceeding RMB 50 million. It is also the largest case of its kind uncovered by Zhejiang’s tobacco authorities so far this year.

Earlier, the Jinhua Tobacco Monopoly Bureau in Zhejiang, together with local public security, postal administration, and other departments, conducted a comprehensive analysis of delivery and logistics big data in Yiwu City. They initially identified a four-person gang led by a man surnamed Xu, which purchased large quantities of illegal vaping parcels from Shenzhen, Dongguan, and other locations, then shipped them nationwide.

At present, new-type vaping cases are showing clear characteristics of organization and regionalization. During the investigation, tobacco and public security authorities held several special coordination meetings on key and difficult issues. After multiple rounds of clue analysis, cross-verification, and step-by-step investigation, they gradually mapped out the full criminal operation.

Under the task force’s unified deployment, law enforcement officers carried out coordinated arrests in Guangdong, Henan, and other places. In total, they dismantled two production and assembly sites, one storage site, and one sales site, and seized more than 35,000 finished and semi-finished vaping products, along with over 100,000 sets of e-liquid, packaging boxes, and other accessories. The total amount involved exceeded RMB 50 million. Criminal compulsory measures were taken against more than 20 people, achieving a full-chain crackdown covering raw material sales, processing and assembly, and finished product sales across multiple links and elements.

Regulation of the vaping market has long been a key focus for tobacco authorities at all levels in Zhejiang. Reporters learned from the Zhejiang Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Bureau that as of the end of April, the province had investigated 190 administrative penalty cases involving vaping products and 78 criminal cases involving vaping products, imposed criminal compulsory measures on 223 people, and seized 731,200 pods, 30,500 vaping devices, and 271,000 disposable e-cigarettes, with a total case value of RMB 197 million. (End)