52 People Involved, Over 60 Million Yuan in Case Value! Zhejiang Busts Illegal Sales of Counterfeit

Recently, the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, successfully cracked a case of illegal sales of counterfeit e-cigarettes with the assistance of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, and other departments, along with public security agencies. The case involved 16 provinces and municipalities, with a total value exceeding 60 million yuan and 52 individuals involved.

In February of this year, law enforcement officers from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Anji County, Huzhou City, discovered that an e-cigarette store in the county was illegally selling disposable flavored e-cigarettes in large quantities, violating the "E-cigarette Management Measures" and other relevant regulations.

With a large customer base and a secretive delivery method, law enforcement officers suspected that there was likely a vast network behind this store selling illegal e-cigarettes.

Tracing the leads, the criminal gang gradually surfaced

According to the "E-cigarette Management Measures" implemented on May 1 of last year, the sale of flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco flavor and e-cigarettes that allow for the addition of vaporizing substances is prohibited. The so-called "flavored e-cigarettes" include those with fruit, beverage, and other flavors. So where did the disposable flavored e-cigarettes sold by Wang come from?

The task force further analyzed Wang's financial and logistics information and found that Wang had repeatedly purchased disposable flavored e-cigarettes from his supplier, Zhou.

When confronted by investigators, Zhou only admitted to selling disposable flavored e-cigarettes to Wang and remained tight-lipped about other matters, which caused the case to reach a stalemate.

The task force analyzed the sales terminals layer by layer and traced the leads to find the source of the illegal sales. Thus, a criminal gang centered around Chen, with multiple functional departments, emerged.

The task force conducted in-depth investigations and captured all suspects involved

After clarifying the criminal facts of the gang centered around Chen, recently, members of the task force split into multiple teams and went to Wuxi and Shanghai to carry out capture operations.

According to the task force's investigation, starting in October 2022, Chen recruited over 30 salespeople to promote counterfeit e-cigarettes, forming an illegal operating network that included procurement, warehousing, logistics, business, and ground promotion. They promoted and sold the counterfeit e-cigarettes across 16 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities nationwide through physical stores and offline agents, resulting in significant illegal profits.

After a month of efforts, a network selling counterfeit e-cigarettes, which was supplied from Shanghai and Wuxi to various parts of the country, was successfully dismantled, with 52 suspects arrested and a total value exceeding 60 million yuan.

Currently, Chen and 20 others have been subjected to criminal coercive measures by public security agencies, and the case is still under further investigation.

The quality of illegally sold flavored e-cigarettes is poor

During interviews, it was found that some illegally sold flavored e-cigarettes were of poor quality, even being "three no" products. Medical experts suggest that regardless of whether e-cigarettes are qualified, everyone should stay away from all forms of smoking.

Li Manxiang, Director of the Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Department at Xi'an Jiaotong University First Affiliated Hospital: I believe that not only traditional cigarettes but also e-cigarettes should be avoided, especially for adolescents who are still growing and developing. The future is long, and one should not leave hidden dangers due to smoking, which can affect personal health.

(CCTV reporter Zhang Gang, Li Dajie)