Zhuji, Zhejiang Breaks Up an Illegal Vaping Devices Operation: 10 Arrested, 4 Bases Dismantled

Recently, Zhuji police dismantled four illegal vaping devices operations, arresting 10 suspects and seizing over 10,000 counterfeit e-cigarettes.

Selling cigarettes directly to students and finding agents among them

The incident dates back to March this year. The Zhuji City Public Security Bureau's Food and Drug Environmental Protection Team received information that several unlicensed e-cigarette products were very popular among students in our city. After receiving the tip-off, the team collaborated with the municipal tobacco monopoly bureau to investigate, quickly capturing suspects Sun and He among others, and confiscating various “fruit-flavored” e-cigarettes such as “milk tea cup,” “Luckin cup,” and “cute tiger cup.”

According to tests conducted by the Zhejiang Tobacco Quality Supervision and Testing Station, these were all counterfeit e-cigarette products. During interrogation, police learned that the suspects, aware of the popularity of “fruit-flavored” e-cigarettes among some middle school students, advertised directly to them through social media platforms like WeChat Moments and Xiaohongshu, even seeking suitable agents for distribution.

Dismantling four operations and seizing over 10,000 counterfeit e-cigarettes

After gathering clues, the team organized police forces to Yiwu, capturing four suspects and dismantling three storage and sales points for counterfeit e-cigarettes, seizing over 12,400 counterfeit e-cigarette products, four computer hosts, several ledgers, and a large number of express delivery receipts and other related items.

According to suspect Ge, they began selling e-cigarette products without a license last year, sourcing them from Guangdong and had developed over ten sub-distributors across the country.

Subsequently, police rushed to Haifeng and Shenzhen in Guangdong to capture major suppliers, arresting primary agents and manufacturers Zhang and Ling, dismantling one e-cigarette production site, and seizing a large number of finished e-cigarettes, vape pens, e-liquids, battery cores, and accessories totaling tens of thousands of items.

Deliberately designed to look like toys, selling for hundreds

Reporters found that these counterfeit e-cigarettes had exquisite packaging, often featuring cartoon designs, yet contained various chemical components: vegetable glycerin, food-grade propylene glycol, natural extracted food-grade flavoring, organic nicotine salts, and nicotine.

“Although labeled ‘food-grade,’ ‘natural,’ and ‘organic,’ they are actually ‘three-no’ products, costing around 20 yuan, but selling for over a hundred yuan, with each capable of delivering five to six thousand puffs.”

Officer Ni Senfeng from Datang Police Station stated that these e-cigarettes are highly deceptive, making it difficult for young people to resist temptation, easily leading them to take their “first puff.”

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Sales of “fruit-flavored” e-cigarettes are strictly prohibited

Team leader Zhao Zhen from the Food and Drug Environmental Protection Team stated that manufacturers design e-cigarettes to resemble toys to exploit loopholes, also launching various types of “fruit flavors,” which not only violate tobacco monopoly laws but also infringe upon laws protecting minors, severely harming their physical and mental health.

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It is understood that the “E-cigarette Management Measures” implemented since May 1 last year stipulate that no individual, legal person, or other organization may sell e-cigarettes through information networks outside the specified e-cigarette trading management platform.

Except for tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, flavored e-cigarettes that allow for self-added vaporizing substances are prohibited, meaning “fruit-flavored” e-cigarettes are explicitly banned from sale.

As of now, the Zhuji City Public Security Bureau has taken criminal coercive measures against 10 suspects.

Additionally, the municipal tobacco monopoly bureau has joined multiple departments to conduct joint actions focusing on areas around schools, and currently, these counterfeit e-cigarettes are almost unavailable in the market.